Oleg Burlakov estate dispute

The daughter and former wife of the Russian businessman Mr. Burlakov claimed in the High Court of England and Wales that a number of persons, including his sister and her husband, had unlawfully misappropriated assets from his estate, valued at approximately $3B. In the course of the proceedings, the defendants sought access to the materials of the investigation firms hired by the claimants, invoking the iniquity exception to legal professional privilege. The court refused, finding that the applicants (the defendants) had not proved that the investigators, including CT Group, obtained the materials by hacking, and that the surveillance and eavesdropping on the defendants’ meeting with their lawyers at a London restaurant, although unethical, did not break the law.

A major dispute over the estate of a Russian businessman before the English courts. The court gave a noteworthy clarification of the limits of legal professional privilege under English law and of whether surveillance of opponents’ meetings with their lawyers is permissible.