Privilege

Privilege

Thomas E. Spahn | McGuireWoods LLP

In his previous Privilege Point, McGuireWoods partner, Thomas Spahn, described a court's curt rejection of attorney-client privilege protection for a plaintiff's communications with her mom – and noted the court's surprising failure to address an obvious work product claim. Eight days later, another court dealt with mother-daughter communications. Here, he picks up where he left off.

Privilege

Thomas E. Spahn | McGuireWoods LLP

Somewhat counter-intuitively, attorney client privilege protection is so fragile that even a family member often falls outside privilege protection (unless that family member was necessary to facilitate communications between the client and his or her lawyer). But work product protection is more robust, so most family members are inside that protection.

Privilege

Thomas E. Spahn | McGuireWoods LLP

Not surprisingly, joint clients do not waive their privilege protection when they communicate with their joint lawyer or (in some situations) with each other. But what if a lawyer improperly represents joint clients whose interests are so adverse that the ethics rules prohibit such a joint representation?