Recently, in Lewis v. Crochet et al., the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected an attempt by a plaintiff to use the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege to compel two lawyers’...more
A recent privilege dispute in E.D.N.Y. case La Liberte v. Reid provides a prime opportunity to review the law and practical aspects surrounding attorney-client privilege, work product protection, and the crime-fraud exception...more
A recent court ruling related to Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election serves as an evergreen reminder that the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine do not insulate documents and...more
A recent decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (one among the 13 appeals courts of the U.S. federal court system) underscores the importance of the attorney-client privilege. In a case titled In re:...more
After the motions panel granted permission to bring an interlocutory appeal, the Eleventh Circuit held that the crime-fraud exception could overcome a claim of work product when attorneys, as opposed to their clients, were...more
The crime-fraud exception can strip away privilege protection from communications in which lawyers further their clients' future wrongful conduct. Under the majority approach, the adversary must (1) first meet a fairly low...more
In a pending False Claims Act (“FCA”) case involving allegations of noncompliance with the federal physician self-referral law (the “Stark Law”), 42 U.S.C. § 1395nn, the United States District Court for the Middle District of...more