Attorney Client Privilege With In House Counsel In Clark
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FAQ
To be safe put "Attorney-Client Communication", "Privileged and Confidential" or "Attorney Work Product" in the subject of the e-mail, or on privileged documents.
Identify privileged documents (including notes of privileged conversations) as such, using headers such as “privileged and confidential attorney-client communication” or “privileged and confidential prepared at the request of counsel.” In addition, maintain dates and names of participants, meetings, and distributions ...
If the purpose is legal advice, the communication is privileged if it's confidential and between lawyer and client. On the other hand, if the lawyer is acting as a business negotiator or advisor, the communication probably is not privileged. An in-house lawyer fulfills multiple roles!
Email communications are not covered by the privilege simply because an OGC attorney is copied on the email. The privilege only applies if the communication has a substantial purpose of seeking legal advice from an OGC attorney.
For those lawyers who are employees of one company, they are not considered to have a private practice or a public practice. These lawyers are called “in-house counsel.” That means they are directly employed by one client and are typically prevented from being able to take on any other clients.
Although historically courts held there was no privilege, more recently courts—including one California court—have concluded that communications between attorneys and their firm's in-house counsel are privileged.
Attorney-Client Relationship In the in-house counsel context, the “client” is considered to be the legal corporate entity and not the corporation's individual officers, directors, shareholders, or employees (hereinafter referred to collectively as “employees”).
There are two major exceptions to the lawyer-client privilege under the California Evidence Code, as discussed below. 2.1. Crime or fraud. 2.2. Preventing death or substantial physical harm.
