The Crown applied for an order establishing a protocol to search electronic devices seized from the accused after investigators discovered solicitor-client privileged communications.
The parties presented a consent order proposing that the police Digital Forensic Service use a software filter to isolate lawyer identifiers provided by the accused, followed by a review by the accused, rather than appointing an independent referee.
The court reviewed the jurisprudence on protecting solicitor-client privilege during electronic searches and approved the consent order, finding that the proposed protocol minimally impaired the risk of breaching privilege and that appointing a referee was unnecessary given the accused's ability to identify the privileged communications.
