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Attorney-Client Privilege Common-Interest Privilege Privileged Communication

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Rattling the Attorney-Client Privilege Cage – A Lesson in Avoiding Waiver of Privilege Under the Common-Interest Doctrine

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

In many cases, clients tend to place their trust, and often their livelihood, in the hands of their attorney. This expectation can be easily traced back to the attorney-client privilege, one of the oldest common-law...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Did S.D.N.Y. Mean to Apply Expansive Common Interest Doctrine?

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Under the widely recognized common interest doctrine, separately represented clients may sometimes contractually avoid the otherwise inevitable privilege waiver when sharing privileged communications. As explained previously...more

McGuireWoods LLP

State Court Takes a Narrow View of the Common Interest Doctrine

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Under the common interest doctrine, separately represented clients may sometimes contractually avoid the normal waiver impact of disclosing privileged communications to each other. But federal and state courts take widely...more

Cranfill Sumner LLP

Unveiling Privilege Challenges in Joint Corporate Defense Agreements

Cranfill Sumner LLP on

Four co-defendants meet with their joint defense counsel to discuss a pending lawsuit. The meeting ends and all participants are confident that the discussions will remain private. There is just one problem. One of the...more

McGuireWoods LLP

The Common Interest Doctrine — Courts' Disagreements and a Warning: Part II

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Last week's Privilege Point described two courts taking the opposite position on whether the common interest doctrine could protect from waiver otherwise privileged communications among common interest agreement participants...more

McGuireWoods LLP

The Common Interest Doctrine — Courts' Disagreements and a Warning: Part I

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The common interest doctrine can sometimes protect from the otherwise harsh privilege waiver impact normally triggered by the sharing of privileged communications among separately represented clients. Courts take widely...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Texas Courts' Contradictory Approach to the Common Interest Doctrine

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The common interest doctrine sometimes allows separately represented clients to avoid the normal privilege waiver implications when sharing their privileged communications. Unfortunately for lawyers hoping for certainty,...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Minnesota Recognizes the Common Interest Doctrine

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Under the common interest doctrine, separately represented clients can avoid the normal waiver implications of sharing privileged communications by entering into a contractual arrangement. In Energy Policy Advocates v....more

McGuireWoods LLP

How Does the Common Interest Doctrine Work in the Intellectual Property Context?

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The common interest doctrine sometimes prevents what would be a waiver when separately represented clients disclose privileged communications to each other. But the doctrine normally requires an identical legal interest, not...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Northern District of California Court Repeats Commonly Articulated Incorrect but Harmless Statement About Common Interest Doctrine

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The common interest doctrine can sometimes protect communications between separately represented clients that would otherwise trigger a waiver – if those clients share an identical (or nearly identical, in some courts) legal...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Federal Court Coins a Useful Common Interest Doctrine Phrase: "Rooting Interest"

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The widely misunderstood common interest doctrine occasionally allows separately represented clients to avoid the normal disastrous waiver implications of sharing privileged communications. Among other requirements, most...more

McGuireWoods LLP

The Privilege Always Protects Communications Among Jointly Represented Corporate Affiliates, Right?

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Corporate parents' in-house lawyers' joint representations of the parent and its wholly-owned subsidiaries should cinch their communications' attorney-client privilege protection. Additional grounds for such privilege...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Adversaries on Some Litigation Issues Might Share a "Common Interest" on Other Issues

McGuireWoods LLP on

The unpredictable and frequently rejected common interest doctrine can sometimes avoid what would otherwise be a waiver when separately represented litigants share privileged communications or documents. Many clients and even...more

WilmerHale

Protecting Common-Interest Privilege and Work-Product Protections: Guidance from Recent Decisions

WilmerHale on

Two recent decisions from Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware address common-interest and attorney work-product protection issues that arose in the bankruptcy...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Common Interest Doctrine Participants Must Agree on the Doctrine's Applicability

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The common interest doctrine can allow separately represented clients to avoid the normal privilege waiver implications of sharing privileged communications. But the doctrine is unpredictable and therefore risky....more

Proskauer - Minding Your Business

Beware the Privilege Waiver During Investor Due Diligence

As though commercial transactions were not already fraught with enough potential pitfalls, a recent decision from the Southern District of New York highlighted yet another risk that could carry significant consequences to...more

McGuireWoods LLP

California Federal Court Takes a Narrow View of the Common Interest Doctrine

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The common interest doctrine sometimes allows separately represented parties to avoid the normal waiver implications of sharing privileged communications -- but some courts do not recognize the doctrine, and other courts take...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Delaware Courts Address Common Interest Doctrine Issue: Part II

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Last week’s Privilege Point described a favorable Delaware state court decision finding that a post-reorganization trust and its largest stakeholder could rely on the common interest doctrine to protect their communications –...more

Morris James LLP

Delaware Superior Court CCLD Addresses Claim of Common Interest Privilege over Merger Agreement Parties’ Post-Signing, Pre-Closing...

Morris James LLP on

The American Bottling Co. v. Repole, C.A. No. N19C-03-048 AML CCLD (Del. Super. May 12, 2020) - Delaware courts will apply the common interest doctrine when two parties, represented by counsel, exchange privileged...more

McGuireWoods LLP

More Courts Disagree About Common Interest Doctrine Requirements

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The common interest doctrine can sometimes avoid the normal waiver implications of separately represented clients sharing privileged communications -- if they do so in pursuit of a common legal strategy. Some states do not...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Several Courts Consider Common Interest Doctrine Requirements

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Under certain conditions, the common interest doctrine can avoid what would otherwise be a waiver when separately represented clients share privileged communications to support a common legal strategy. As tempting as it would...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

PetSmart Tells PE Firms to GetSmart on Privilege

How PE firms can minimize attorney-client privilege risks after Argos Holdings Inc. and PetSmart Inc. v. Wilmington Trust N.A. PE firms face a variety of litigation and deal-related attorney-client privilege challenges...more

White and Williams LLP

Sharing Privileged Communications: What Insurers and Reinsurers Need to Know

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To balance the relative information inequality between an insurance company and its reinsurers, insurance companies often provide claim-related documents to their reinsurers. When some of those claim-related documents are...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Courts Take Expansive View of the Common Interest Doctrine

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Under the common interest doctrine, separately represented clients can avoid the normal waiver implications of disclosing privileged communications to third parties. Unfortunately, some courts do not recognize the doctrine,...more

Poyner Spruill LLP

The Common Interest Doctrine: Lessons on avoiding an inadvertent waiver of the attorney-client privilege

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Most lawyers are familiar with the general rule that a client waives the attorney-client privilege by disclosing the privileged information to third parties. The common interest doctrine, however, provides an exception to...more

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