On the 20 October 2015 BU received the following communication from rhw law firm who purports to be acting on behalf of Liz Spencer a self styled financier.
[…]
Based on public information Liz Spencer was the source of funding for Clare Cowan the CEO of Cahill Energy Limited.
rhw solicitors
The Editor
Barbados Underground
Dear Sir or Madame – we act for Liz Spencer. It has come to her notice that on your interesting site are copies of documents in connection with our client’s dealings with Ms Clare Cowan and, we see, a letter other UK lawyers, IFLG, wrote to Ms Cowan, dated 13 March 2015 .
We have been asked by our client to write to you to please ask you to take down from your site the copies of documents which in any way relate to our client – which are both confidential and privileged.
Please reply to us by return with your agreement to our client’s request and to confirm you will take such steps immediately.
Please also tell us the source of those papers.
Regards
John Britten
Solicitor and Mediatorrhw Solicitors LLP
Ranger House, Walnut Tree Close, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 4UL
DX: 2445 Guildford 1Tel (Direct): +44(0)1483 540 532
Tel (Office): +44 (0)1483 302 000
Tel (Mobile): +44 (0)7943 806 211
Tel (Fax): +44 (0)1483 301 242
BU responded to rhw on the same day, to date we have not received a response. We have given a reasonable time for a response and in the interest of being transparent we share the communication with the BU family.
Dear Mr Britten,
We have your e-mail dated 20 October instant.
Your request is very non-specific and we would be obliged if you could assist us in pointing out exactly which letters and/or e-mails specifically assert privilege or those on which solicitor-client privilege might be asserted. If we have indeed published documents on which privilege is asserted or can be asserted on a solicitor-client bases, it would have been in error and we would certainly be prepared to remove these from our site. However, absent such assertion of privilege or evidence of the paper-trail by which such privilege was first asserted, we regret that we cannot comply with your request.
As for your request to name our source, you know better than that and if you do not, you should, given the press practices and rules in the United Kingdom.
In any and all events, we state without equivocation or fear of contradiction that this subject matter is one of national importance and interest to Barbados. Your client, either by herself or through you, is welcomed to post your side here on BU and we invite you to do so, either credited or anonymously. We are an equal-opportunity blog.
Regards
David – Barbados Underground
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