The leaking of legal documents. The cautionary tale of Harriet Harman

The Wigs

In this episode, the Wigs examine quite a topical legal issue.

What are the laws around what can be done with documents that are produced to parties to litigation under court orders such as subpoenas?

In short - the law in some places provides that such documents are confidential unless they are admitted as evidence in the case

and that parties or others who obtain the documents commit contempt of court if they leak them with knowledge of their origins.

The Wigs discuss the case of Harriet Harman, an activist lawyer in the UK, and later a member of Parliament, who was found guilty of contempt of court for providing documents to a journalist, as well as some Australian cases on point.

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