ECJ’s view on attorney-client privilege: When will professional secrecy apply? What is the view from Turkey?

Imagine that you consult a legal issue with your lawyer. You most likely would want the discussion between you and your lawyer to be kept between the two of you. Indeed, this is the reason why correspondence between attorneys and clients is privileged. In this regard, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) recently rendered a game-changing decision[1] (“Belgian Tax Decision”) providing its current view on attorney-client privilege. This article discusses the ECJ’s assessment on the attorney-client privilege as well as the Turkish Competition Board’s standpoint in terms of the validity of the professional privilege on documents that are s