News & Analysis as of

Attorney-Client Privilege Privilege Waivers

McGuireWoods LLP

New York Federal and State Courts Deal With Privilege and Work Product Implications of Intrafamily Communications

McGuireWoods LLP on

The differing waiver rules governing the fragile attorney-client privilege and the robust work product doctrine protection predictably create stark differences when family members communicate with each other. This type of...more

Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti,...

Preserving Privilege in Internal Investigations

One thing leaders of organizations routinely recognize is that “you never know what tomorrow will bring.” Another common slogan is “life happens.” If “life” happens to bring the organization a situation that could expose the...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Does Disclosing an Attorney-Client Communication Into Another Privileged Relationship Waive That Privilege?

McGuireWoods LLP on

Although lawyers understandably focus mostly on the privilege that they enjoy when communicating with their clients, other professionals (psychiatrists, clergy) also have privilege protection of one degree or another. Does...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Two Important Courts in Two Days Highlight the Shrinking Risk of Subject Matter Waivers: Part I

McGuireWoods LLP on

All lawyers worry that waiving privilege protection for some communications might trigger a damaging subject matter waiver requiring disclosure of related communications. Such a subject matter waiver risk normally does not...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Courts Thankfully Back Away From a Broad “At Issue” Waiver Approach

McGuireWoods LLP on

Starting about 50 years ago in the case of Hearn v. Rhay, 68 F.R.D. 574 (E.D. Wash. 1975), some courts recognized a broad “at issue” waiver that could strip away privilege without the holder’s disclosure of or even reference...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Courts Assess Waiver Implications of Lawyers Testifying: Part II

McGuireWoods LLP on

Last week’s Privilege Point described a Nevada federal court ruling that a lawyer’s testimony about non-privileged matters did not waive that fragile protection. Snow Covered Capital, LLC v. v. Fonfa, Case No....more

McGuireWoods LLP

Courts Assess Waiver Implications of Lawyers Testifying: Part I

McGuireWoods LLP on

For obvious reasons, lawyers rarely testify at trial. The ethics rules normally prevent a lawyer from trying a case if she is “likely to be a necessary witness.” ABA Model Rule 3.7. And any lawyer’s testimony presents...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Key Developments In Equal Pay Litigation: Maintaining Privilege Over Pay Equity Audits And Investigations

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: In its seminal decision, Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, the Supreme Court held that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is tantamount to discrimination on the basis of...more

Association of Certified E-Discovery...

Still Using General Objections? See How One Party’s Use Led to Waiver

This week, we’re delving into the post-2015 landscape of discovery objections and the critical lessons from Bocock v. Innovate Corp., a case that serves as a stark reminder of the perils of general objections and the...more

Array

This Week in eDiscovery: Ruling on Intentional vs. Inadvertent Privilege Disclosures, Royal Family Photo Puts Metadata in the News

Array on

Every week, the Array team reviews the latest news and analysis about the evolving field of eDiscovery to bring you the topics and trends you need to know. This week’s post covers the week of March 11-17. Here’s what’s...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Can Litigants on Opposite Sides of the “v.” Ever Enter Into a Common Interest Agreement?

McGuireWoods LLP on

Separately represented clients sometimes may avoid the normal waiver implications of sharing privileged communications by entering into a common interest agreement — but such contractual arrangements frequently do not work....more

McGuireWoods LLP

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

McGuireWoods LLP on

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

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Balancing Act: Sharing Information From an Internal Investigation Without Waiving Privilege

A whistleblower has triggered a race against time: An internal inquiry, directed by the audit committee and overseen by external counsel, has been launched in response to allegations that revenue was recorded without proper...more

McGuireWoods LLP

State Court Takes a Narrow View of the Common Interest Doctrine

McGuireWoods LLP on

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

Carlton Fields

Joint-Defense and Common-Interest Agreements in Government Investigations: Best Practices for In-House Counsel to Retain Privilege...

Carlton Fields on

Introduction - Your company is under investigation by the government. As part of the investigation, the government subpoenaed an employee for testimony. The employee retained a lawyer (separate from your company’s outside...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

Waiver Implications of Disclosing Work Product to the Government

McGuireWoods LLP on

Last week's Privilege Point described a court's refreshingly correct acknowledgment that disclosing work product to friendly third parties does not waive that robust protection — in contrast to the more fragile privilege...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Are All Government Agencies Part of One “Client” for Privilege Purposes?

McGuireWoods LLP on

Courts take differing positions on the "client's" identity in the government setting. Among other things, such differing positions might affect the waiver implications of one government agency disclosing its privileged...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Delaware Federal and State Courts Disagree About a Key Privilege Waiver Issue

McGuireWoods LLP on

Under some arrangements, major shareholders appoint directors to companies those shareholders partially own. Does such a company waive its privilege by disclosing its privileged documents to a designating shareholder's...more

McGuireWoods LLP

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

McGuireWoods LLP on

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

Butler Snow LLP

Company Cooperation Leads to Criminal Discovery

Butler Snow LLP on

When a company discovers that a crime may have been committed by individuals within the company, or is alerted by the government of that possibility, the company will often hire an outside law firm to conduct an internal...more

Ward and Smith, P.A.

Teamwork Can Sometimes Make the Dream Work: How to Properly Maintain the Protections of Common Interest Doctrine in North Carolina

Ward and Smith, P.A. on

Parties to a lawsuit often find themselves on the "same side of the courtroom" as other entities or individuals. In these instances, where a party is one of multiple (or many) co-plaintiffs or co-defendants, it is often...more

Pullman & Comley, LLC

Voluntary Disclosure of a Communication with Counsel: The CT Appellate Court Recognizes “Subject Matter” Waiver

Pullman & Comley, LLC on

Accordingly, we hold that the voluntary disclosure of a privileged attorney-client communication constitutes a waiver of the privilege as to all other communications concerning the same subject matter when the trial court...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Plaintiff Relying on a Former Lawyer’s Testimony Can’t Avoid a Privilege Waiver

McGuireWoods LLP on

Most courts hold that a litigant does not automatically waive privilege protection by listing a former lawyer as a witness – because that lawyer might testify about non-privileged facts. But not surprisingly, such a step can...more

Jenner & Block

Privilege Newsletter: Investigations - Cooperating With The Government Without Waiving Privilege

Jenner & Block on

In response to a government investigation, the company has conducted a comprehensive internal investigation, taking steps necessary to establish and maintain applicable privileges and protections. The company now wants to...more

144 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 6

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide