Attorney-Client Privilege and Dual-Purpose Advice: Convincing Courts to Maintain Confidentiality
A live 90-minute CLE video webinar with interactive Q&A
This CLE webinar will seek to comprehensively address the issue of "mixed" or "dual-purpose" communications between clients and counsel. The panel will survey the states' different approaches to the issue, discuss key federal court decisions on the topic, and apply these state and federal law principles to contexts where the question of dual-purpose communication commonly arises.
Outline
- State approaches
- Key federal court decisions
- Industry and context-specific application of key principles
Benefits
The panel will discuss these and other key issues:
- How do courts analyze privilege claims over dual-purpose documents?
- What rules do federal courts apply to dual-purpose documents in cases where federal common law controls under FRE 501?
- What are best practices for in-house attorneys, who are enmeshed in the day-to-day business affairs of their companies, to ensure that their communications with colleagues remain privileged?
- What are the most persuasive arguments and approaches for litigators seeking to withhold or compel disclosure of a dual-purpose document?
Faculty
Brian C. Spahn
Shareholder
Godfrey & Kahn
Mr. Spahn’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and white collar defense and internal... | Read More
Mr. Spahn’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and white collar defense and internal investigations. He has handled banking and financial services litigation, antitrust, insurance, employment and trade secret misappropriation matters, as well as managed complex class action defenses. Mr. Spahn is a frequent author and lecturer on attorney-client privilege, among other legal topics.
Close
Erin C. Tison
Attorney
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
Ms. Tison has experience with all aspects of litigation, from filing the complaint up to serving as first chair at... | Read More
Ms. Tison has experience with all aspects of litigation, from filing the complaint up to serving as first chair at trial and everything in between. In addition to trial work, she has substantial experience taking and defending both fact and expert depositions, drafting and arguing complex dispositive briefing, managing the preservation, collection, analysis, and production of paper and electronic documents, conducting custodian interviews, and briefing complex and technical discovery and privilege issues. Recently, Ms. Tison served an extended secondment with The Dow Chemical Company as a case Manager in Dow's Asbestos, Products Liability & Insurance Litigation Group. In this capacity, she managed the asbestos and premises litigation dockets for Union Carbide and Dow throughout the western and northeastern United States. This involved overseeing hundreds of ongoing product liability cases, including advising the litigation management team on case evaluation, resolution, and business strategies, as well as directing outside counsel and trial counsel teams.
CloseEarly Discount (through 08/22/25)
Cannot Attend September 16?
Early Discount (through 08/22/25)
You may pre-order a recording to listen at your convenience. Recordings are available 48 hours after the webinar. Strafford will process CLE credit for one person on each recording. All formats include course handouts.
