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Business Litigation Attorney-Client Privilege

WilmerHale

Notable Developments In Massachusetts Law: Business Litigation Session Adopts First Circuit Standard For Subject Matter Waiver Of...

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On July 25, 2025, Superior Court Business Litigation Session Judge Debra A. Squires-Lee issued a significant decision regarding the attorney-client privilege and clarifying the contours of the work product doctrine in...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Declares the End of the ‘Shareholder Rule’ Regarding Privilege

In a landmark ruling handed down on 24 July 2025 (Jardine Strategic Limited (Appellant) v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd and 80 others (Respondents) No 2 (Bermuda) [2025] UKPC 34), the Judicial Committee of the Privy...more

Goodwin

Shareholder Access to Privileged Documents: Views From England and the United States

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In England and the United States, legal professional privilege or attorney-client privilege is considered fundamental to the administration of justice, allowing clients to make confidential, full, and frank disclosure to...more

McGuireWoods LLP

No Lawyer Required: Part II

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Last week’s Privilege Point described generally accepted principles under which the attorney-client privilege can protect intra-corporate communications without a lawyer’s involvement. To some lawyers’ surprise, the...more

McGuireWoods LLP

No Lawyer Required: Part I

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The very term “attorney-client privilege” would seem to necessitate a lawyer’s involvement in any communications deserving that evidentiary protection. But in some critical intra-corporate situations, the protection covers...more

Venable LLP

To Be or Not to Be...Discoverable: Third-Party Litigation Funders

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Should California courts permit litigants to conduct discovery into litigation funding, namely whether a third party is funding their adversary’s litigation efforts?...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Does Disclosing Legal Advice to Financial Advisors Waive Privilege? Part II

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Last week’s Privilege Point described S.D.N.Y. Judge Lewis Liman’s conclusion that a company waived privilege protection for legal advice it received from its counsel by disclosing the advice to its financial advisor China...more

Lowndes

Florida Law Update: Slack Messages May Be Privileged Communication

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Florida’s Sixth District Court of Appeal (6th DCA), which considers appeals from trial courts in an area running from Orange County down to Collier County, recently confirmed that discovery privileges apply to communications...more

BCLP

Understanding the Litigation Privilege

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The litigation privilege insulates communications made by lawyers and their clients during, and in some circumstances, prior to judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings from defamation and other tort claims. ...more

Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP

My Fashion (Legal) Odyssey: Part 6 How To Choose, Use (And Not Abuse) Your Lawyer

The selection of a professional by a lay person is often a dicey matter. Choosing a lawyer is no different. What qualities should you look for? What are the indicators of a lawyer to avoid? Don’t use your lawyer cousin Bernie...more

Ward and Smith, P.A.

Think Twice — Avoiding Waiver of the Attorney-Client Privilege Through Issuance of a Press Release

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Imagine that your company has just been sued by a competitor for patent infringement, deceptive advertising, unfair competition, or any number of other business torts. The news of the lawsuit has been reported in various...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

The Latest Major Developments in NC and SC Business Litigation

Employers in South Carolina faced with litigation might have an easier time winning motions for summary judgment, noncompete agreements remain in the crosshairs, and the North Carolina Supreme Court offered some rare how-to...more

Miller & Martin PLLC

Batten the Hatches: Preparing for an Automotive Dispute

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Just as death and taxes are certainties in life, so too is litigation for many automotive companies. And while each case varies widely in terms of facts, law, parties, and forum, there are common points to consider in most...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe: Commercial Division Protects Corporate Client Communications Under the Common-Interest Doctrine

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The attorney-client privilege is an old and well-known evidentiary privilege. It fosters candor between attorney and client, protects confidential information from being revealed to others, and ensures that the attorney can...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Preserving the Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege as Against Investors

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In Hyde Park Venture Partners Fund III, L.P. v. FairXchange, LLC, the Delaware Court of Chancery provided a valuable reminder to corporations and their directors and officers that a corporation cannot assert a privilege, such...more

Jenner & Block

Privilege Newsletter: Fitting Consultants Within the Attorney-Client Privilege and Work Product Protection – Cyber Breach...

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Cyber attacks are increasingly frequent and virulent. An intruder may lurk in a company’s computer system for years, or an attack may be sudden and catastrophic. Millions of people’s personal information and companies’...more

Perkins Coie

The Purpose, A Purpose? Because of Litigation Concerns? Ninth Circuit Adopts Stringent Test for Dual-Purpose Communications

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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

Akerman LLP

How to Protect Boards From COVID-19 Governance Risk

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Government committees, whistle blowers, the plaintiffs’ bar, activists, customers and special interest groups all appear to be readying to assail company boards, for failing the public trust. Originally Published inThe...more

Hogan Lovells

Protecting attorney work product in internal investigations: A cautionary tale

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On May 1, 2020, the D.C. Circuit denied RPM International’s petition for a writ of mandamus to vacate a district court order compelling disclosure of interview memoranda prepared by outside counsel to the Securities and...more

Polsinelli

Delaware Court of Chancery Underscores Importance of Contracting Ahead of Time to Preserve the Seller's Attorney-Client Privilege...

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The Delaware Court of Chancery recently issued an opinion driving home the point, once again, that attention should be paid to contractually providing for the retention of the attorney-client privilege by the selling company...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

Best in Law: Tips to Keep Client-Attorney Communications Confidential

Most people have heard of the “attorney-client privileged communication” and may even have a fair idea of what that means. But a lack of understanding about how it works can lead to errors that can render the communication no...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Attorneys Switching Sides During Litigation Sometimes Allowed… at least in the First Department!

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Notwithstanding general public opinion of attorney ethics, most people (including attorneys) believe that an attorney cannot dump a client in the middle of litigation to represent the other side. However, attorneys in the...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Protecting the Privacy of Privileged Internal Investigations

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Internal investigations by outside counsel are an essential tool for corporations to ensure they are compliant with governing regulations and statutes, particularly when they are faced with allegations of potential...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Recurring Issues in Accounting for Litigation Contingencies

Certain questions seem to recur when it comes to outside counsel’s communications with a company’s auditors about potential exposures as a result of litigation or regulatory/enforcement matters and the underlying accounting...more

Butler Snow LLP

Attorney-Client Privilege Might Die With Your Company

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If you have ever been involved in litigation relating to a defunct company, then you know that problems such as who will serve as the Rule 30(b)(6) representative and who will verify the answers to interrogatories or provide...more

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