The general rule appears to be that the attorney-client privilege does not apply when a client's spouse or other family member is present for a conversation between client and counsel. For example, in a 1980 quadruple homicide case, People v.Nov 4, 2019
No matter how the attorney-client privilege is articulated, there are four basic elements necessary to establish its existence: (1) a communication; (2) made between privileged persons; (3) in confidence; (4) for the purpose of seeking, obtaining or providing legal assistance to the client.
The attorney-client privilege exists between a lawyer and each client in a joint engagement. The privilege applies to communications between the lawyer and each client regarding the engagement; it also applies to communications among joint clients and their common attorneys.Jul 11, 2018
While there is no accountant-client privilege under the common law, some communications between an accountant and a client may be privileged under the attorney-client privilege if the accountant is acting as an agent of the attorney.
Although the precise definition of attorney–client privilege varies among state and federal courts, there are four basic elements to establish attorney–client privilege: (i) a communication; (ii) made between counsel and client; (iii) in confidence; (iv) for the purpose of seeking, obtaining or providing legal ...
Definition. Attorney-client privilege refers to a legal privilege that works to keep confidential communications between an attorney and his or her client secret. The privilege is asserted in the face of a legal demand for the communications, such as a discovery request or a demand that the lawyer testify under oath.
The attorney-client privilege protects disclosure of a confidential communication between client and lawyer.
The “joint defense” privilege allows one group of clients and their counsel to communicate with another group of clients and their separate counsel—all without allowing their common adversary (the plaintiff) to discover those communications.Aug 25, 2021
The common interest privilege is “an extension of the attorney client privilege.” “It serves to protect the confidentiality of communications passing from one party to the attorney for another party where a joint defense effort or strategy has been decided upon and undertaken by the parties and their respective counsel ...
BOTH COMMON AND FEDERAL LAW reject the idea of an accountant-client privilege like that which exists between attorneys and their clients. However, accountant-related communications still may be shielded from disclosure when an accountant acts as an agent for an attorney providing legal services.Mar 31, 1997
Federal law does not recognize a general accountant-client privilege, and the only federal statutory protection available to accountants is the Federally Authorized Tax Practitioner Privilege, codified in 26 U.S.C.Dec 2, 2014
Does legal advice privilege apply to accountants? No. For privilege to apply, there must be a lawyer (i.e. a solicitor or barrister) in the communication for legal advice privilege to apply. Legal advice privilege does NOT extend to other professionals such as accountants.Oct 16, 2020
Whether the attorney-client privilege transfers from a seller to a buyer in an asset sale is a fact-specific analysis, which typically focuses on whether the seller is selling, and the buyer is purchasing, control of a business that will continue operating under new ownership. In conducting this analysis, and as a practical matter, courts will seek to avoid a situation in which one party to an asset sale controls an ongoing business while another controls that business's attorney-client privilege (unless the parties express a contrary intent).
Generally, the sale of assets without more does not transfer the attorney-client relationship, and therefore, the privilege. In recent years, however, many courts addressing the privilege issue have applied a “practical consequences” test, which focuses on the actual, real-world effects of the asset sale rather than the legal formalities of how the specific transaction is structured. Under that test, the privilege will transfer to the asset buyer if “the control of the business has transferred” and “the business has been continued under the authority of the new owner.” UTStarcom, Inc. v. Starent Networks, Corp., No. CIV.A. 07-CV-2582, 2009 BL 423521, at *3 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 20, 2009). A transfer of the attorney-client privilege will occur under those conditions because “the practical consequence of the transaction is that control of the enterprise has passed to the new owner along with the attorney-client privilege incident to it.”