A broad concept of protection is found in the Brazilian constitution and comprises the following:

• The confidentiality of legal communications prepared for professional use
• Client-lawyer privilege, which covers all communications related to the attorney's professional activity with a client, and applies to any lawyer licensed at the competent Brazilian bar
• The inviolability of lawyers' offices and related work files

As a result of this constitutional protection, written communications between a client and their lawyer (i.e., duly registered before the competent bar), whether in paper or electronic form, are deemed to be confidential and not subject to disclosure to third parties. Lawyers are also prevented from serving as witnesses in the course of legal work, unless the client authorizes the deposition. Below the constitutional level, several pieces of legislation also grant similar protection to the legal profession and to the confidentiality of attorney-client communications, such as: (i) the Code of Ethical Conduct issued by the Brazilian Bar Association; (ii) Federal Law 8.906/94, which governs the Brazilian legal profession; (iii) the Code of Civil Procedure; (iv) the Code of Criminal Procedure; and (v) the criminal code.

Exceptions to the general rule of confidentiality occur in very few situations and need to be carefully analyzed on a case by case basis. As a general overview, lawyers may be allowed to breach client-lawyer confidentiality in the following situations:

• In cases of risk or threat to one's life or honor
• For the lawyer's own protection and defense against the client, but limited to such defense purposes
• When previously authorized by a client (waiver), except to serve as witnesses

To reinforce the client-lawyer privilege rule and avoid abuses in searches made by police officers in law firms during criminal investigations, the Federal Law 8.906/94, which governs the Brazilian legal profession, has specific rules to guarantee that lawyers are entitled to resist the following:

• Searches of their law firm or place of work
• Turning over letters, electronic files, documents and conversations produced during the exercise of the legal profession

Article 7(II) of Federal Law 8.906/94 sets forth that a lawyer has the right to the inviolability of their office or place of work, as well as their work instruments, and written, electronic, telephonic and telematic communications, as long as these are related to the practice of the legal profession. Note that there is no difference if the material was prepared in anticipation of litigation or in anticipation of trial, since the law determines that attorneys' work instruments are covered by the principle of inviolability.

The same law also requires a representative of the local bar association during the execution of any judicial order allowing the search of any law firm.

The exceptions mentioned above represent situations in which the attorney may breach confidentiality and the corresponding arguments may be raised at any time (i.e., during litigation and/or any other proceedings in which the attorney intends to disclose the privileged documents). In addition, it is important to mention that courts may disregard the protections for attorney-client communications where justice so requires.