Law Commons^™

The Relevance Of Fatf’S Recommendations And Fourth Round Of Mutual Evaluations To The Legal Profession, Laurel S. Terry, José Carlos Llerena Robles

Laurel S. Terry

Using Occam’S Razor To Solve International Attorney-Client Privilege Choice Of Law Issues: An Old Solution To A New Problem, Nathan M. Crystal, Francesca Giannoni-Crystal

Nathan M. Crystal

The practice of law is increasingly becoming “delocalized.” Globalization and the use of technology are two important factors in this fundamental change in practice. Delocalization is affecting almost all areas of practice, including issues involving attorney-client privilege (ACP). To some extent the choice-of-law rules governing ACP are also – like other fields of the law - being “delocalized,” but in our view only partially. This paper discusses six approaches to choice of law issues governing ACP that are being used by the courts. Aside from the traditional lex loci approach (which simply applies the law of the forum to the …

Valuing The Waiver: The Real Beauty Of Ex Ante Over Ex Post, Robert C. Hockett

Robert C. Hockett

Irony abounds in connection with demands and proposals made, in the wake of the Enron, Worldcom, and other corporate scandals, that firms be required or encouraged to waive attorney-client privilege. Justice Department officials speak to the importance of "getting at the truth" as trumping firms' interest in confidential internal communications as a prerequisite to compliance with law. They do so notwithstanding their own contrary arguments made on behalf of the secretive Bush administration that employs them. Corporate officers, for their part, speak as though Ralph Nader were the Attorney General when they denounce waiver proposals. They do so notwithstanding the …

Corporate America Fights Back: The Battle Over Waiver Of The Attorney-Client Privilege, Michael L. Seigel

Michael L Seigel

This Article addresses a topic that is the subject of an on-going and heated contest between the business lobby and its lawyers, on the one side, and the U.S. Department of Justice on the other. The fight is over federal prosecutors' escalating practice of requesting that corporations accused of criminal wrongdoing waive their attorney-client privilege as part of their cooperation with the government. The Department of Justice views privilege waiver as a legitimate and critical tool in its post-Enron battle against white collar crime. The business lobby views it as encroaching on corporations' fundamental right to protect confidential attorney-client communications. …

Alternative Litigation Finance And The Attorney-Client Privilege, 92 Denver U. L. Rev. 96 (2014), Grace M. Giesel

Grace M. Giesel

Skating Too Close To The Edge: A Cautionary Tale For Tax Practitioners About The Hazards Of Waiver, Claudine Pease-Wingenter

Claudine Pease-Wingenter

The Federal Rules of Evidence defer to common law in establishing the rules of attorney-client privilege. As a general matter, such an approach creates a fairly uncertain legal landscape as each court articulates the baseline rules somewhat differently. The varied judicial applications of those differing rules can then exacerbate the uncertainty even more.

Unfortunately, in the area of tax law, the rules and their application are particularly uncertain because attorneys and accountants have overlapping responsibilities to clients and the courts have historically refused to recognize an accountant-client privilege. During my approximately eight years practicing corporate tax law, I was acutely …

Eliminating Political Maneuvering: A Light In The Tunnel For The Government Attorney-Client Privilege, Patricia E. Salkin, Allyson Phillips

Patricia E. Salkin

The long recognized common-law privilege afforded to certain conversations between attorneys and their clients has been the subject of troubling opinions when the lawyer and client are high ranking government officials. In a series of opinions from the 7th, 8th and D.C. Circuit Courts of Appeals, the courts refused to recognize the existence of the attorney-client privilege for the government actors under the circumstances surrounding the cases. However, recent opinions from the 2nd Circuit state that these other courts were simply wrong, setting the stage perhaps, for the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve the issue. Whether this privilege is equally …

Beware: What You Say To Your [Government] Lawyer May Be Held Against You - The Erosion Of Government Attorney-Client Confidentiality, Patricia E. Salkin

Patricia E. Salkin

No abstract provided.

Municipal Ethics Remain A Hot Topic In Litigation: A 1999 Survey Of Issues In Ethics For Municipal Lawyers, Patricia E. Salkin

Patricia E. Salkin

No abstract provided.

Corporate Salvation Or Damnation? Proposed New Federal Legislation On Selective Waiver, Liesa L. Richter

Liesa L. Richter

Recently, critics have attacked federal law enforcement policies that encourage corporate targets to disclose sensitive information protected by the corporate attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine, arguing that the policies are coercive, fundamentally unfair, and destined to chill the free flow of information to corporate counsel. The most readily apparent collateral consequence of these policies, however, has been corporations' loss of privilege protection in subsequent litigation. Good corporate citizens that have chosen to cooperate with the government in this manner have been punished with broad findings of waiver and the dissemination of protected information to companies' civil adversaries. To protect companies …

End The Experiment: The Attorney-Client Privilege Should Not Protect Communications In The Allied Lawyer Setting, Grace M. Giesel

Grace M. Giesel

Upjohn Warnings, The Attorney-Client Privilege, And Principles Of Lawyer Ethics: Achieving Harmony, Grace M. Giesel

Grace M. Giesel

Individuals who are related to an entity such as a corporation sometimes claim that when they communicated with the entity lawyer, they honestly and reasonably believed that the lawyer represented them. Thus, they claim that the attorney-client privilege applies and protects their statements from disclosure even when the entity has waived its privilege with regard to the communications. Many courts have given privilege claims by entity individuals harsh treatment. These courts, in the interest of protecting the entity, have required individuals to make proofs beyond that required by the traditional definition of the attorney-client privilege. In addition, these courts have …

Coporate America Fights Back: The Battle Over Waiver Of The Attorney-Client Privilege, Michael L. Seigel

Michael L Seigel

This article address a topic that is the subject of an on-going and heated contest between the business lobby and its lawyers, represented primarily by the American Bar Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, on the one side, and the United States Department of Justice, on the other. The fight is over federal prosecutors’ escalating practice of requesting that corporations accused of criminal wrongdoing waive their attorney-client privilege as part of their cooperation with the government. The Department views privilege waiver as a legitimate and very important tool in its post-Enron battle …

Dual Identities And Dueling Obligations: Preserving Independence In Corporate Representation, Susanna K. Ripken

Susanna K. Ripken

Under the Model Rules of Professional Responsibility, lawyers for corporate entities must regard the organization itself as the client. Because the corporate client can act only through its authorized constituents, including officers, directors, and employees, the lawyer for the corporation typically looks to the authorized managers of the corporation to speak on behalf of the client. When the interests of the managers and the corporations diverge, however, the lawyer must seek out the highest authority in the organization to provide the appropriate guidance. As a general matter, the board of directors acts as the highest authority within the corporation. One …