...A communication must be made for the purpose of legal advice to be protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege. If legal advice is not the purpose of the communication, the attorney-client privilege does not...more
On October 3, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court granted review in a federal grand jury proceeding that may result in the Court expanding the scope of the attorney-client privilege for dual-purpose business communications....more
To foster open and honest communications with counsel, it is critically important that those communications are protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege. But, not every communication with counsel is...more
When are communications with counsel that are for both legal advice and business purposes protected by the attorney-client privilege? From least to most stringent, courts have required that a communication be “because of”...more
In Taylor Lohmeyer Law Firm P.L.L.C. v. United States, No. 19-50506, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a Texas-based estate and tax-planning law firm (Firm) could not invoke the...more
In Civil Aviation Authority v. R (on the Application of Jet2.com Ltd.), the English Court of Appeal clarified the test for legal advice privilege, confirming the need to show that the dominant purpose of the relevant...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
On October 11, 2017, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation was granted permission by the Court of Appeal to appeal the High Court's ruling articulating a significant restriction on the scope of legal professional privilege...more
Solicitor-client privilege applies broadly to the continuum of communications concerning matters within the solicitor-client relationship, the BC Court of Appeal recently held in British Columbia (Attorney General) v. Lee,...more
On June 6, 2017, the First Department had an opportunity to apply—and reaffirm—last month’s decision in Peerenboom v. Marvel Entm’t, LLC, where the Court held that use of a company email system for personal purposes “does...more
A recent decision by the California Court of Appeal in Behunin v. Superior Court, 9 Cal. App. 5th 833 (2017), is a reminder that a party’s communications with an attorney and a third party consultant must be reasonably...more
In civil litigation, parties frequently communicate with consultants, tax advisors, friends, family, and others concerning the subject matter of the litigation, and such communications raise issues regarding the possible...more
Attorney invoices may be protected in their entirety by the attorney-client privilege during ongoing litigation. After litigation has concluded, however, those same invoices may be discoverable. So concludes the California...more
Brief Summary - The "common interest doctrine" generally protects attorney-client communications, even if such communications are disclosed to a third party, as long as the third party shares a common legal interest with...more
In County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors et al. v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles, 2015 DJDAR 4085, the California Court of Appeal for the Second District ruled that attorney invoices may be confidential...more
Government contractors and other companies subject to internal investigation requirements won some relief from the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on June 26 with a decision that firmly reiterated that...more