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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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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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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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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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Court Applies the General Rule Finding a Privilege Waiver When Clients Disclose Privileged Communications to Public Relations Consultants
One of the most dangerous misperceptions among corporate clients is that disclosing privileged communications to such friendly outsiders as public relations consultants does not waive privilege protection as long as there is a confidentiality agreement in place. A steady stream of cases have rejected that approach, yet large corporate clients and sophisticated law firms continue to rely on that mistaken view.
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Insurance Coverage & Recovery
Before the Deluge: Courts Weigh COVID-19 Insurance Coverage Disputes
Matthew D. Fender, a litigator who focuses his practice on representing policyholders in insurance recovery disputes, discusses an array of COVID-19 issues and claims, including a recent federal case in which the court concluded that the coverage trigger “physical loss or damage” is satisfied by the presence of novel coronavirus on surfaces.
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Delaware Court Provides Transactional and Practical Guidance: Part II
In his previous Privilege Point, McGuireWoods partner, Thomas Spahn, described a Delaware Chancery Court’s analysis of pre-closing privileged transactional documents in: (1) a stock sale (in which the statutory “default” position is that the buyer acquires those documents, unless the seller explicitly negotiates their exclusion); and (2) an asset sale (in which the seller retains ownership of those, unless the buyer explicitly negotiates for their transfer). Here, he picks up where he left off.
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