A lawyer’s view

Have had many interesting e-mails on the Winston issue. One of them is from an lawyer and has some interesting aspects:

As a lawyer, I am fully aware of the personal nature of legal expenses / Court costs.  They are a personal liability, which must be satisfied by the client (no different than the personal liability for your mortgage). It is beyond doubt that, by having his personal liability for legal fees and Court costs paid for him, WP has personally benefited from the donation.

Indeed. It will be interesting to ascertain (if one can) the exact legal nature of the fund the donations go into. Is it a legal trust? Is it a lawyer’s trust fund? Is it an unincorporated society?

By definition, lawyer’s trust accounts are NOT subject to legal professional privilege.  So be ready when the media are told that further details are protected from legal privilege – because they are not. For instance, see s 20 of the Tax Administration Act 1994, which expressly states IRD can have immediate access to all legal trust accounts as privilege does not apply to them (there is no “privilege” in payments, only in legal adice).

I am also receiving detailed information on the tax implications, which I will publish when finalised.