Avoiding Inadvertent Privilege Waivers in E-Communications
- Erika Schutzman, Jeffrey Schomig
- 6.1.2020
This article was published by Law360 and written by Megan Barriger, Erika Schutzman and Jeffrey Schomig.
Excerpt: An evolution in how courts interpret the confidentiality prong of the attorney-client privilege, which requires that both the client and attorney have an expectation of confidentiality in the communication for which the client seeks to assert the privilege, has been underway for more than a decade.
The current trend suggests that a company's attorney-client privilege may be lost if the company transmits the otherwise privileged information using third-party email accounts or servers that are accessible to others.
In addition, company employees and directors may lose the attorney-client privilege for communications with their personal attorneys about issues that the employee, director and/or the company would have preferred remained private — e.g. officer discussions with personal attorneys about a dispute with the company.
