Is a lawyer’s bill privileged?

Writing for the majority in Maranda, LeBel J. observed that courts have been divided on the question of whether information contained in legal billings is privileged. One line of cases supported the proposition that the amount of fees, with nothing more, is not a “communication” but rather a “fact” which is not subject to privilege unless the context dictated otherwise. Another line of cases, including Stevens v. Canada, held that a lawyer’s bill is a communication expressive of the relationship between the solicitor and client and the amount of fees should always be protected by a blanket privilege given the ability of opposing counsel to sometimes extract privileged information from apparently neutral billing amounts.