COURSE DESCRIPTION
Attorney-client privilege seems straightforward until you're faced with corporate clients, third-party communications, or discovery disputes that challenge its boundaries. This program cuts through the confusion with practical guidance on when privilege applies, how it can be waived, and what communications truly remain protected. Learn to safeguard confidential communications while avoiding privilege pitfalls that could expose sensitive client information.
- Identify the precise scope and limitations of attorney-client privilege
- Understand privilege in corporate settings and multi-party representations
- Learn when third-party presence destroys or preserves privilege protection
- Master common privilege waiver scenarios and how to avoid them
- Develop strategies for asserting and protecting privilege in litigation
Speaker:
Thomas E. Spahn is of counsel in the Tysons Corners, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, where he advises firm clients on professional responsibility issues and properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections. He has served on the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and is a Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He has written extensively on attorney-client privilege, ethics and other topics, and has spoken at over 2000 CLE programs throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries. Through links on his website biography, he has made available to the public his summaries of over 1,600 Virginia and ABA legal ethics opinions, organized by topic; a 300 page summary of his two-volume 1,500 page book on the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine; over 900 weekly email alerts about privilege and work product cases; and materials for 40 ethics programs on numerous topics, totaling over 9,000 pages of analysis. Mr. Spahn graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and received his J.D. from Yale Law School. Mr. Spahn will serve as the discussion leader of today’s program.