work done by trial consultants is considered an attorney work product, which means

Can the work product doctrine be used in criminal litigation?

Overview. The work product doctrine states that an adverse party generally may not discover or compel disclosure of written or oral materials prepared by or for an attorney in the course of legal representation, especially in preparation for litigation. However, under Rule 26 (b) (3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure , an adverse party may discover or compel disclosure of work …

Should I work with a lawyer or a consultant?

for trial by or for another party or its representative (including the other party's attorney, consultant, surety, indemnitor, insurer, or agent). The party claiming the work product privilege must prove that the materials are: 1. Documents and tangible things; 2. Prepared in anticipation of litigation or trial; and . 3.

What is attorney work product privilege?

Thus the courts distinguish between “fact” and “opinion” work product. 6 ” Fact” work product is factual information that pertains to the litigation and is prepared or gathered in connection with it. 7 ” Opinion” work product consists of the attorney’s mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, or theories concerning the litigation. 8 Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.280(b)(3) also recognizes this distinction, …

What are the elements of the product doctrine of attorney client privilege?

Nov 30, 2008 · Court of Appeals Finds Trial Consultant Work Privileged. November 30, 2008. Over the past few years we have seen a tremendous acceptance among our client base of the value of preparing witnesses for deposition. At the same time, many of you have expressed concern regarding the discoverability of such work (and trial consulting in general).

What is the legal definition of work product?

Material prepared in anticipation of litigation. Generally, work product is privileged, meaning it is exempt from discovery. ... Opinion work product is the record of an attorney's mental impressions, ideas or strategies, and is almost never subject to discovery.

Does work product have to be prepared by an attorney?

Work product only applies to materials prepared in anticipation of litigation and it is not absolute. ... Work product can easily be created by the client and by representatives without involving a lawyer.Jun 5, 2019

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 attorney work product NY?

Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495 (1947). The work product of an attorney includes material produced and obtained by an attorney in his or her professional capacity and with the use of his or her professional skills involving legal reasoning, legal research, analysis, conclusions, legal theory, and strategy.

What is attorney work product in Texas?

Work product comprises: (1) material prepared or mental impressions developed in anticipation of litigation or for trial by or for a party or a party's representatives, including the party's attorneys, consultants, sureties, indemnitors, insurers, employees, or agents; or.

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 kind of work falls under the work product rule?

A legal doctrine that provides that certain materials prepared by an attorney who is acting on behalf of his or her client during preparation for litigation are privileged from discovery by the attorney for the opposition party.

Is the work product doctrine part of the attorney-client privilege?

The attorney-client privilege protects from disclosure to third parties confidential attorney-client communications that relate to legal advice. ... The work product doctrine protects from disclosure to third parties documents and tangible things that a party or its representative prepares in anticipation of litigation.

Who holds the work product privilege?

Proc. § 2018.030. Even though the attorney client privilege and the work product doctrine are similar in many ways, the holders of these privileges are distinct. Rather than the client, the attorney is the holder of work product protection.

What is fact work product?

Fact Work Product is a tangible work product which includes facts but not an attorney's mental impressions. Fact work product is subject to a qualified privilege. It is not allowed to discovery unless the party seeking discovery shows a substantial need for such materials. This is also known as ordinary work product.

Are witness statements 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.

Are emails work product?

privilege,” including “mere transmittal communications” and “communications dealing with merely administrative, logistical, or scheduling matters” Ultimately, the District Court concluded that “only a portion of the emails submitted for in camera review constitute protected work product.” The District Court's order ...Apr 25, 2017

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.

Consultants, Work Product, and Confidentiality

A testifying expert witness’s notes, opinions, and work product are all discoverable: opposing counsel can see what your testifying expert is studying, thinking, and planning to say.

How to Protect Your Consultant From Discovery

Attorneys seeking to work with an expert witness who will consult but not testify have several opportunities to strengthen the argument that their non-testifying expert’s work ought to be protected from discovery.

Why Hire a Non-Testifying Expert to Consult?

Despite the risks in some jurisdictions of the consultant’s name or work being discoverable, the advantages to hiring a consultant outweigh the disadvantages in many cases.

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 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 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 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 doctrine?

While the attorney-client privilege seeks to protect confidential communications between an attorney and a client, work product doctrine generally establishes a “zone of privacy” in which a lawyer and a client can prepare and develop theories and strategies in anticipation of, and in preparation for litigation, free from unnecessary intrusion by the adversary.

What is professional conduct?

See Rule of Professional Conduct 4.4(b) (“A lawyer who receives a document relating to the representation of the lawyer's client and knows or reasonably should know that the document was inadvertently sent shall promptly notify the sender. ”).

What is CPLR 4550?

A January 2015 Report of the Advisory Committee on Civil Practice to the Chief Administrative Judge of the Courts of the State of New York (January 2015 Report) proposed adoption of a new CPLR 4550, addressing attorney-client privilege and work product protection when otherwise protected communication or information is disclosed. (January 2015 Report, at 20-21). Proposed CPLR 4550 addresses both subject matter waiver and inadvertent production, and is intended to align New York law with FRE 502(a) and (b).

Does New York have a waiver rule?

To date New York State has not had a codified rule with respect to waiver scope. The small number of decisions, and the absence of definitive appellate precedent have left the waiver scope rule unclarified. Some decisions have held that any voluntary disclosure of the content of attorney-client privileged matter constitutes a waiver of the privilege as to all other matter on the same subject. Matter of Stenovich v. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, 195 Misc.2d 99, 109 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Co. 2003); AMBAC Indemn. v. Bankers Trust, 151 Misc.2d 334, 340-341 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Co. 1991); Matter of Baker, 139 Misc.2d 573, 576 (Surr. Ct. Nassau Co. 1988). Conversely, the decision in Charter One Bank v. Midtown Rochester, 191 Misc.2d 154, 163-164 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. 2002), broadly rejected a subject matter waiver rule, finding that it "effectively undermine[s] the purpose of the attorney-client privilege for allowing free flowing information between counsel and client," and suggesting that there can never be a subject matter waiver brought about by a partial disclosure of a privileged matter.