In-house lawyers in many industries–including life sciences and health care–repeatedly confront hard questions about the attorney-client privilege. As Reed Smith lawyers Matthew Sheldon and Sandy Thomas explain in the PrivilEdge Newsletter, a number of recent developments warrant attention. These include “The Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2007”–pending legislation that would curb demands for waiver of the privilege during corporate investigations and a recent case addressing attorney-client privilege issues such as the “joint client” exception, protection for tax advice and internal audits, and corporate ratification of a lower-level employee’s disclosure of privileged information. Their article also discusses proposed Rule of Evidence 502 (S. 2450) regarding inadvertent disclosure of privileged information. As of Monday, that bill is awaiting the President’s signature.
