In United States ex rel. Wollman v. Massachusetts Gen. Hosp., Inc., No. CV 15-11890-ADB, 2020 WL 4352915 (D. Mass. July 29, 2020), yet another district court agreed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia...more
Understanding the boundaries of legal privilege in corporate internal investigations is critical. When counsel, either internal or external, misunderstands these boundaries, the result can be disastrous....more
On November 8, 2017, Suzzanne W. Decker, a Principal in the Miles & Stockbridge Labor, Employment, Benefits & Immigration practice group, and Sandra McLelland, Managing Counsel at Under Armour, presented a webinar to members...more
As with other types of crisis situations, a cyber security incident can generate not only operational issues, but also significant legal exposure. Affected companies should think through the associated privilege issues,...more
You may recall that, back in July 2014, we advised that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals had overturned a D.C. District Court decision in a False Claims Act case that required the results of an internal investigation, which...more
In this Fall issue of our newsletter, you will find a review of several significant legal developments. For example, our antitrust group reviews actions taken by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice...more
Last month, for the second time, the D.C. Circuit in In re Kellogg Brown & Root Inc., No. 14-5319, slip op. (D.C. Cir. Aug. 11, 2015), granted a writ of mandamus sought by KBR and vacated a series of district court orders...more
The SEC continues its efforts to support whistleblowers. The whistleblower program promulgated by the Commission under the Dodd-Frank Act offers rewards to individuals who report securities law violations. As we have...more
Last week's Privilege Point discussed the D.C. Circuit's refusal to order disclosure of privileged communications a Rule 30(b)(6) deponent reviewed before testifying. In re Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc., No. 14-5319, 2015 U.S....more
In United States ex rel. Barko v. Halliburton Co. et al., a qui tam suit we previously covered, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals once again ruled that defense contractor KBR Inc.’s internal investigation...more
In 2014, the D.C. Circuit adopted a very favorable privilege standard — protecting communications if "one significant . . . purpose[]" was corporations' need for legal advice, even if that was not the communications' "primary...more
The SEC recently issued guidance specifying that whistleblowers do not first have to take their concerns to the SEC in order to be covered by the SEC’s anti-retaliation rule. The guidance clarifies that those whistleblowers...more
On August 11, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a writ of mandamus supporting the robust applicability of the attorney-client privilege and attorney work product doctrines in the context of False...more
No Dog Days of August for the SEC—A Recap of a Busy Month - Why it matters: Who says there is a government slowdown in August? Not for the SEC. August 2015 turned out to be very busy indeed for the agency, which...more
For the second time in just over a year, the DC Circuit granted the extraordinary remedy of a writ of mandamus to protect a company’s assertion of privilege over materials relating to an internal investigation. In a...more
On Tuesday, August 11, 2015, in United States ex rel. Barko v. Haliburton et al., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an opinion vacating a series of rulings by the United States District Court for the...more
The ability to preserve privilege for highly sensitive internal investigations conducted at the direction of attorneys is alive and well. In a closely watched decision on the scope of the attorney-client privilege as applied...more
On August 11, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted a petition by Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. (“KBR”) for a writ of mandamus in order to protect KBR’s assertion of attorney-client privilege over its...more
On August 11, 2015, in United States ex rel. Barko v. Halliburton et al., No. 14-5319, slip op. (D.C. Cir. Aug. 11, 2015), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an important opinion vacating another series of...more
In In re Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc., et al., No. 14-5319 (D.C. Cir. August 11, 2015), the Court reversed a district court’s ruling that KBR waived these protections by using materials created in the course of a privileged...more
In the ongoing saga which has been the subject of a previous post on this blog, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has once again found that the district court erred in ordering the production of the...more
The attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine are two of the oldest and most sacrosanct privileges in the law. The attorney-client privilege protects the functioning of the attorney and client...more
We continue our King Arthur themed week with an exploration of one of the most interesting characters in the Arthur canon, The Green Knight, so called because his skin and clothes are green. The meaning of his greenness has...more
On April 1, the US Securities and Exchange Commission issued—in a settled administrative proceeding—a cease-and-desist order in In the Matter of KBR, Inc., directing that the respondent cease violating Commission Rule...more
In a recent enforcement action, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took action against a company for "using improperly restrictive language in confidentiality agreements with the potential to stifle the...more