All Articles

New Spending Package Includes Provider Relief Fund Reporting Changes and More Funding

On Dec. 27, 2020, President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (H.R. 133), an appropriations and stimulus package that includes changes to the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (Provider Relief Fund) to assist providers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Discovery

Sending Pre-Existing Historical Documents to a Lawyer Does Not Make Them Privileged, But…

It should go without saying that sending pre-existing historical documents to a lawyer does not automatically immunize them from discovery as privileged. If it did, clients could box up all of their files and send them to a lawyer ― thus avoiding the documents’ discovery.

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Litigation

Courts Disagree About the Key Work Product Doctrine’s Motivation Element

The work product doctrine requires: (1) litigation; (2) anticipation; and (3) motivation. And even though the work product doctrine rests on a single sentence in the Federal Rules, federal courts ironically take more varied approaches to the motivation element than they do toward the usually common law-based privilege protection.

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Data Privacy

Federal Data Privacy Legislation: Will It Help the U.S. Remain Competitive in the Global Marketplace?

Cristin Traylor and Alice O'Donovan, with McGuireWoods, discuss the outlook for national privacy legislation in the U.S.

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Privilege

Common Interest Doctrine Participants Must Agree on the Doctrine's Applicability

The common interest doctrine can allow separately represented clients to avoid the normal privilege waiver implications of sharing privileged communications. But the doctrine is unpredictable and therefore risky.

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Privilege

Dartmouth Strikes Out on Privilege Claim for Email Threads

Courts analyzing privilege assertions for email threads often look for some indicia of that protection on the face of those emails. Thomas Spahn, partner with McGuireWoods, offers insight in his latest Privilege Point.

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Privilege

Some Courts Require Privilege Logs to Include Goofy Data

Although the Federal Rules do not explicitly require privilege logs, every court seems to do so. Most courts require such logs to include predictable data, but some courts require logs to provide data that seem largely irrelevant.

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