If both in‑house and external legal counsel are involved in advising the entity on the same litigation and claims, the auditor would ordinarily seek a letter of enquiry from the legal counsel with the primary responsibility for that matter.  However, …

In circumstances where both in‑house and external legal counsel have devoted substantial attention to litigation and claims involving the entity and primary responsibility rests with the external legal counsel, evidence obtained from an in‑house legal …

Before relying on the opinion of either in‑house legal counsel or external legal counsel, care should be exercised to ensure that conditions prevail which would make such reliance reasonable. …

If a disagreement between management and legal counsel is resolved after discussions, the auditor would ordinarily request the entity’s legal counsel to confirm the details in writing to the auditor.  (Ref: Para.  Aus 5.2 …

If the disagreement is not resolved, the auditor would ordinarily prepare a memorandum of the discussion and seek written confirmation from management and the entity’s legal counsel that it is an accurate record of the discussion.  In conjunction with …

If the response from the entity’s legal counsel contains information that requires clarification, the auditor would ordinarily make further enquiries of management and the entity’s legal counsel, as appropriate, and request clarification in …

If a response is not received from the entity’s legal counsel, or the response received is incomplete, the auditor would ordinarily consider: requesting management to contact the entity’s legal counsel to either seek a complete answer to the original …

Due to the following circumstances it may be difficult to either obtain a response to a letter of enquiry or be provided with information about litigation and claims from the entity’s legal counsel: If the entity is involved in litigation, or litigation …

Where the auditor has not obtained sufficient appropriate audit evidence as to a material financial report assertion regarding litigation and claims, under ASA 330 , the auditor needs to consider whether alternative audit procedures can provide further …

The auditor may also consider any relevant legislation to assist in obtaining information about litigation and claims, including, for example: Section 310 of the Corporations Act 2001 which entitles the auditor to a right of access at all reasonable times …