The concept of legal professional privilege in Singapore can be broadly divided into legal advice privilege and litigation privilege.

Legal advice privilege covers all confidential communications between a party and their advocate and solicitor in respect of legal advice. Legal advice privilege prevents an advocate or solicitor engaged by a party from doing the following:

• Disclosing any communication made to them in the course and for the purpose of their engagement by or on behalf of their client
• Stating the contents or condition of any document with which they have been acquainted in the course and for the purpose of their engagement
• Disclosing any advice given by them to their client in the course and for the purpose of their engagement

This privilege applies regardless of whether litigation is contemplated in respect of communications for purposes of seeking legal advice by the client and by third-party agents of the client who communicate merely as conduits. There have been recent observations from the General Division of the High Court that in determining if information sought to be disclosed is covered by legal advice privilege, it is more appropriate to apply a contextual approach which focuses on whether the information sought to be disclosed can properly be said to be or reveal confidential legal advice and assistance, rather than a strict approach centered on whether the information is a fact or a communication. Where the third party does not communicate as a mere agent or conduit of the client, there are dicta from the Singapore Court of Appeal that such communications may nonetheless be privileged if the communication is made for the dominant purpose of seeking legal advice.

Litigation privilege covers all communications between a party and its lawyer, as well as communications with other third parties that were made for the predominant purpose of litigation. Litigation privilege protects from disclosure all information and materials created and collected for the sole or dominant purpose of litigation, including communications between the client and the client's legal professional adviser, or between third parties and the client's legal professional adviser, regardless of whether they were made as an agent of the client and whether they are confidential or otherwise. For litigation privilege to apply, there must be a reasonable prospect of litigation.

Although both legal advice privilege and litigation privilege are embodied in the Evidence Act, reference to English law principles is permitted unless those principles are inconsistent with the Evidence Act.