Law Firm Internal Investigations and the Attorney-Client Privilege

Outline

1. Attorney–client privilege
   1. Scope of privilege
   2. Intra-firm dissemination of privileged information
   3. Discovery
   4. Current client or fiduciary exception
   5. Court and state bar treatment
2. Ethical considerations
   1. Conflicts of interest
   2. Fiduciary duty to client
3. Best practices to maintain confidentiality
   1. Appoint regular general counsel or ethics counsel
   2. Investigate or act on professional liability or responsibility issues when they arise
   3. Firm counsel treat investigation as client matter
   4. Firm counsel must safeguard attorney–client privilege and work product doctrine
   5. No discussion of investigation with aggrieved client
   6. Consider withdrawal from client representation (at least on particular matter)

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

• What protections are available to law firms as they conduct internal investigations?
• What are the common challenges asserted by aggrieved clients to access information gathered in the firm's internal investigation?
• What ethical issues should law firms consider when undertaking an internal investigation?
• What steps should firms take to protect the confidentiality of the information resulting from the internal investigation?