what is considered attorney work product

Attorney work product refers to work that an attorney has done on a given case. The concept is important in litigation when the process of discovery is taking place. Discovery refers to the sharing of information between adverse parties in a lawsuit.

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What is the Attorney work product doctrine?

Attorney work product privilege permits attorneys to withhold from production documents and other tangible things prepared in anticipation of litigation by or for another party or its representative. See: Fed. R. Civ. P. § 26(b)(3). As with attorney-client privilege, work product privilege does not protect underlying facts. See also: Hickman v.

What is the work product doctrine?

attorney's work product n. written materials, charts, notes of conversations and investigations, and other materials directed toward preparation of a case or other legal representation. Their importance is that they cannot be required to be introduced in …

What is the definition of attorney work product?

There are two categories of attorney work product: Opinion work product is the mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, and/or legal theories of an attorney. An example of attorney opinion work product is an email from the attorney to …

What is attorney work product privilege?

Mar 15, 2022 · Attorney work product refers to work that an attorney has done on a given case. The concept is important in litigation when the process of discovery is taking place. Discovery refers to the sharing of information between adverse parties in a lawsuit.

What is included in work product?

The work-product doctrine now encompasses “documents and tangible things that are prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial by or for another party or its representative,”3 and a party's representative can be its attorney, but it also can be its insurer, employee or other agent.

What is work product in law?

Opinion work product is the record of an attorney's mental impressions, ideas or strategies, and is almost never subject to discovery.

What is the difference between attorney-client privilege and work product?

According to the Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, the “attorney-client privilege refers to a legal privilege that works to keep confidential communications between an attorney and his or her client secret.” On the other hand, the Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute proclaims “the work product ...Mar 17, 2020

What is defined as work product?

Legal Definition of work product : the set of materials (as notes), mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, or legal theories developed by or for an attorney in anticipation of litigation or for trial.

Are witnesses work product?

The California Supreme Court held that witness statements collected by or at the direction of an attorney constitute at least qualified work product, as a matter of law.

What is protected under work product?

Protects documents and tangible things that are prepared in anticipation of litigation by (or for) another party or its representative from disclosure to third parties.

Can communications be work product?

Most courts extend work product protection to “intangible” work product such as oral communications, deposition testimony, etc.Aug 13, 2020

What is considered attorney work product California?

The attorney work product doctrine provides absolute protection to written work product that reveals an attorney's impressions, conclusions, opinions or legal research. 3. Attorney work product is defined in the governing statute as material created or derived from a lawyer's work.

What is confidential work product?

Confidential Work Product means any ideas, discussions, documents, curricula, marketing information, statistical reports, or other written materials that are developed by (or on behalf of) NAMSS regarding the following matters: Sample 1.

What is an example of work product?

Work Product means any and all works, including work papers, notes, materials, approaches, designs, specifications, systems, innovations, improvements, inventions, software, programs, source code, documentation, training materials, audio or audiovisual recordings, methodologies, concepts, studies, reports, whether ...

Is attorney work product hyphenated?

Often stated as the work-product doctrine1 or even the work-product rule. Further, some present the privilege using a hyphen, as in attorney-work product.

Is work product intellectual property?

“Work Product” shall mean all materials, data, works of authorship, concepts, presentations and reports in connection with Consultant's performance of the Services, including, without limitation, all intellectual property rights therein.

What is attorney work product?

n. written materials, charts, notes of conversations and investigations, and other materials directed toward preparation of a case or other legal representation. Their importance is that they cannot be required to be introduced in court or otherwise revealed to the other side.

Why should the judge not have allowed a page from the notes of the defense lawyer at trial to be admitted at the

Reardon, claimed that during the hearing, the judge should not have allowed a page from the notes of the defense lawyer at trial to be admitted at the hearing because the notes constitute the attorney's work product.

What is a legal nurse consultant?

Legal nurse consultant: a role for nephrology nurses. Though Oklahoma courts have not ruled on this specific fact pattern, the court cited cases showing the weight of authority supports the notion that clients are the legal owners of their case files, including the attorney's work product.

What is silence golden?

Silence is golden: advice for avoiding breaches of confidentiality. BY engaging the CPA's services under a Kovel letter prepared by an attorney, the CPA can freely communicate with the client under protection of the attorney-client privilege, and the work papers prepared by the CPA can be protected from discovery under the attorney's work product ...

What is the work product doctrine?

The work product doctrine protects documents, notes, and other materials that were created in anticipation of litigation, but not materials that were not created for such a purpose. The duration of the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine may differ depending on the court.

What is attorney-client privilege?

The attorney-client privilege protects legal advice regardless of whether you have filed suit against a defendant or if someone filed suit against you. In regard to the litigation requirement and the work product doctrine, the crucial phrase is “in anticipation of litigation.”.

What is the work product privilege?

The work-product privilege or doctrine 1 originated in the seminal case of Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 67 S.Ct. 385 (1947, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that statements of witnesses obtained by an attorney prior to trial were privileged and thus protected from discovery. The Court reasoned that to allow otherwise would be contrary ...

Why is information collected?

But information and materials may be collected because a law or regulation requires it and, at the same time, it may also be collected in anticipation of litigation. Under these circumstances, the information may qualify as work product.

What is the work product doctrine?

The work-product doctrine is a judge-created doctrine, and as initially crafted, protected from discovery written statements, private memoranda and personal recollections prepared by an attorney in anticipation of litigation.1 The intention was to create a zone of privacy around the attorney so as to allow the preparation and development of legal theories and strategies with an eye toward litigation, free from unnecessary intrusion by his adversaries.2

What is mandatory arbitration?

Many provisions contain specific requirements, such as the parties agreeing to use a specific entity (like the American Arbitrations Association), the use of a specific number of arbitrators (typically one or three) and/or the distinction of what specific claims the arbitrator is allowed to decide (some provisions exclude fraud and other claims). All of these issues deal with an arbitrator’s jurisdiction to decide a claim.

What is dual purpose document?

Another tough issue is presented by dual-purpose documents — documents created for both a business reason and in anticipation of litigation. Work-product protection will not be afforded the document if it would have been prepared in substantially similar form or content irrespective of the expected or anticipated litigation. The pertinent question is what would have happened had there been no litigation threat—that is, would the party seeking work-product protection have generated the document if it were acting solely for a business-related purpose?12 To answer this inquiry, courts focus on the form, or content of the document and ask whether the document would have been prepared in substantially similar form but for the prospect of litigation. If this showing can be made, the privilege applies, but if the document would have been prepared in the same form regardless of the threat of litigation, the document goes unprotected.13

Do contractors need a lien waiver?

Contractors expect lien waivers to be submitted over the course of a construction project. Most states have standard forms that can be used to ensure these agreements are properly recognized in court. A recent federal case discussed the effect of leaving portions of a lien waiver blank, ostensibly to carry out the intent of an oral agreement.

What is caveat emptor in Georgia?

In Georgia, the long-standing rule in real estate purchases is caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”). There is one exception: a negligence action against a builder/seller. A builder/seller may be held liable in negligence where a dwelling is sold containing latent defects that the builder in the exercise of ordinary care knew or should have known and that the buyer could not have discovered in the exercise of ordinary care. Georgia courts have not previously addressed whether this exception applies to an ordinary seller of real estate who performs its own repairs on the dwelling (i.e., whether an ordinary seller who performs repairs is a builder/seller under the exception to caveat emptor).

What is the FAA in real estate?

The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) evidences a congressional policy to encourage arbitration, and although parties are free to agree that state arbitration law applies, the state law may be pre-empted by the FAA if the transaction involves interstate commerce. In this case, the issue presented was whether an agreement to purchase real estate was a transaction in interstate commerce, and thus implicating the FAA, or one involving purely intrastate commerce. South Carolina courts had not previously addressed this issue presenting a case of first impression. In this case, two parties entered into a Home Purchase Agreement, which contained a Mandatory Binding Arbitration provision stating that all disputes should be resolved by arbitration. The purchaser initiated a lawsuit against the seller alleging numerous construction defects in the dwelling and contending that the arbitration clause was unenforceable under the South Carolina Arbitration Act because the arbitration clause was not on the first page of the Agreement and not identified by capital letters and underlining, all of which are required under the South Carolina Act. The seller contended that the arbitration clause complied with South Carolina law, and thus was enforceable, and alternatively that the arbitration provision was enforceable under the FAA because the sales transaction involved interstate commerce. The seller argued that the sales agreement involved interstate commerce because although it was entered in South Carolina: 1) it required the seller to obtain a warranty from a company in Georgia and to submit any claims to that company in Georgia; 2) the home mortgage was financed by a North Carolina branch of a bank; and 3) the contractor used subcontractors, materials and suppliers from outside of South Carolina. The lower court found the arbitration provision in the Agreement did not comply with the South Carolina Arbitration Act, and also found that the agreement was not subject to the FAA, as the seller did not sufficiently demonstrate that the transaction involved interstate commerce.

Can a dual purpose document be subject to work product protection?

Looking at the totality of the situation, the court concluded that a dual-purpose document could nevertheless be subject to work-product protection if the document was created in anticipation of litigation and would not have been created in substantially similar form, but for the prospect of litigation.15

What is work product privilege?

states have equivalent rules in their civil procedure codes (but for my purposes I am going to discuss the federal version). The work product privilege protect s from discovery those “documents and tangible things” that are “prepared in anticipation of litigation” by (or for) a party or its representative.

Is attorney client privilege a work product?

Similarly, reports and materials produced in the ordinary course of the business do not qualify as work product.