By Thomas G. Wilkinson, Jr. and Alexa L. Sebia Last month, a Pennsylvania federal judge rejected a company’s claim to attorney-client privilege as an obstacle to pursuit of a sex discrimination suit brought by a lawyer and former employee.[1] The court…
Blog Archives
Crime-Fraud Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege – Facebook’s Lawsuit
Hayes Hunt and Michael Zabel The crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege: As an attorney, you may not anticipate it applying to your emails, your letters or your advice to your client. But even if you never see it coming, your…
Investigating Employee Wrongdoing
By Hayes Hunt and Arthur Fritzinger Companies in every industry—private and public—struggle with the difficult task of promptly identifying employee wrongdoing and responding appropriately. The National Football League continues to be embroiled in a controversy arising from its reaction to…
Attorney-Client Privilege & Corporate Dissolution
By Hayes Hunt and Arthur Fritzinger Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Senior Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr.’s recent ruling in Red Vision Systems v. National Real Estate Information Services, No. 14-0411 (Comm. Pls. Feb. 26, 2014), that the attorney-client…
Tagged with: attorney-client privilege, Corporate Counsel, Corporate Law, Red Vision
Posted in Privilege
Posted in Privilege
When to Appeal Privilege Claims – State and Federal Differences
Contributed by Thomas Wilkinson, Jr. and Issa Mikel In Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Harris, No. 8 EAP 20098 (Pa. 2011) (McCaffrey, J.), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reaffirmed its prior rule that orders overruling claims of privilege are immediately appealable as…
10 Things a Lawyer Should Never Say in a Social Setting – Cocktail Party Chatter
Many lawyers have a tendency to brag about their work over cocktails with just about anybody who cares to listen. It is a combination of ego and selling. Recently, I was a faculty panel member at a PA Bar Institute program entitled “Cocktail…
Tagged with: attorney-client privilege, Chris Fallon, Cocktail Party, Confidentiality, From the Sidebar, Hayes Hunt, Rules of Professional Conduct
Posted in Privilege
Posted in Privilege
The ups and downs of Upjohn
Good morning Mr. Employee. Thank you for meeting with me. Sitting next to me is Ms. Auditor and she will be taking notes of our interview. I am the lawyer for the company you work for. I’m here to ask…
Tagged with: attorney-client privilege, Client-company, Cozen O'Connor, From the Sidebar, Upjohn v. United States
Posted in Privilege
Posted in Privilege
