Attorney-Client Privilege Answer Book (2020 Edition)
A practical resource for attorneys and clients seeking to understand the most significant privilege in the law.
Authored by Christopher Ruhland, the book is a practical resource for attorneys and clients seeking to understand the most significant privilege in the practice of law. The book, written in question-and-answer format, examines the boundaries of the privilege, providing guidance on issues that attorneys grapple with on a regular basis as to what is, and is not, covered by the privilege, and how the privilege is protected and lost. Among the topics receiving in-depth treatment are what constitutes “attorney,” “client,” and “communication” for purposes of the privilege; choice-of-law issues; waiver; and exceptions to the privilege.
Changes to the 2020 edition include two new Q&As:
- Q 10.6, How can a party assert the privilege in pre-trial practice? Provides advice on asserting the privilege in pre-trial motions, including how to satisfy the burden of proving that the privilege should apply.
- Q 10.9, Can attorneys and their clients have privileged communications during breaks in testimony? Analyzes cases that reach different and often inconsistent conclusions on the question of whether clients and their lawyers can have privileged communications during breaks in deposition and trial testimony.
...and more than fifty new cases throughout the book, including cases addressing:
- Whether scientists’ consultation with a patent agent in an attempt to direct their efforts toward results that were not already the subject of prior art claims fell within the patent-agent privilege (Q 4.1.3, Is a patent agent an “attorney” for the purpose of the privilege?)
- Whether a corporation’s belief that it was a client of lawyers employed by an outside compliance firm hired by the corporation was reasonable (Q 5.8, What if a person reasonably believes that he or she is a client?)
- Whether the setting of a surety’s reserve amounts by in-house counsel was legal or business advice for the purpose of the privilege (Q 8.1.1, What is pure “business advice” that will not be considered “legal advice”?)
