Protecting The Corporate Counsel Communications Shield The Attorney-Client Privilege Is Alive and Well for Company Lawyers

By Roy Alan Cohen and Julius M. Redd

In the current electronic era, one of the substantial challenges facing defense lawyers is protecting written communications involving corporate counsel. In many companies, corporate counsel are now often part of the business management team, no longer only relegated to providing legal advice when asked to do so. Frequently, legal department attorneys are located with the business unit and are actively engaged with company executives and product managers in both legal aspects of the business and day-to-day business decisions. In fact, company titles for in-house lawyers sound like those of executives rather than lawyers, including Executive Vice-President, Chief Compliance Officer, Senior Vice-President, Chief Privacy Officer or Corporate Secretary.