The Advocate Law, which is the general basis of privilege under Indonesian law, does not differentiate between privilege in civil, criminal, regulatory or investigatory situations. Note that in civil procedural law, there is no concept of discovery. The Criminal Procedural Law stipulates that in the event that suspects are under detention, they may directly communicate through letters with their counsel without the correspondence being scrutinized by the investigator, prosecutor, judge, or officer of the detention house, unless there is a suspicion that the correspondence is being abused. This is in line with the general client-attorney privilege given by the Advocate Law.

As discussed, there are limits to this privilege as stipulated under the Anti-Corruption Law, Anti-Money Laundering Law and Tax Law.

As under the Advocate Law privilege follows the advocate, whether the notes are covered by privilege would depend on who possesses the notes. If the notes are possessed by the advocate, then it can be argued that the notes are pieces of information or documents that were obtained from the client, which are covered by privilege. If the notes are possessed by any other person that is not an advocate, then they are not covered by privilege.