Cristina Corbo Jennings participated in a panel discussion on the topic,”Keeping the Lid on Pandora’s Box: What In House Counsel Need to Know About Attorney Client Privilege,” at the National Association of Minority & Women Owned Law Firms’ 2016 Annual Meeting & Expo in Houston, Texas.
The panel discussion addressed how clients of in-house counsel often overestimate the protections of the attorney-client privilege in internal investigations and litigation. In this course designed for in-house attorneys, they compared and contrasted the majority rule for privileged communications (the “subject matter” or Upjohn test) with the minority “control group” test; analyzed exceptions to and waivers of the privilege; discussed the ethical obligations specific to having an organization as a client, including the so-called corporate Miranda warning; analyzed the implications of a change of corporate ownership on privilege; and outlined best practices for in-house counsel when communicating with employees.