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Protecting Privileged Communications Open Article in Another Window
June 2005
California courts recently helped clarify how waiver principles for privileges operate in business environments and in later-filed lawsuits.
General Credit
1. In California the attorney-client privilege is governed by common law.  True  False
2. The attorney is the exclusive holder of the attorney-client privilege.  True  False
3. The attorney is the exclusive holder of the work-product protection.  True  False
4. The attorney-client privilege applies only to communications made between a client and counsel in anticipation of litigation.  True  False
5. Any disclosure of a confidential communication by the attorney or client to a third party waives the attorney-client privilege.  True  False
6. California statutory law governs waiver of the attorney work product protection.  True  False
7. Exchanging privileged communications with another party during business negotiations waives the attorney-client privilege.  True  False
8. Codefendants and their counsel are entitled to communicate in confidence with one another on matters of common interest.  True  False
9. Codefendants in California state court litigation can rely on a joint defense privilege to protect their confidential communications.  True  False
10. Under federal law the attorney-client privilege is governed by common law.  True  False
11. Allied parties in federal court litigation have a joint defense privilege.  True  False
12. The federal joint defense privilege is an extension of the attorney-client privilege.  True  False
13. A court can conduct an initial in camera review of the content of a communication to determine whether a privilege exists.  True  False
14. Parties negotiating a business deal can never have a common interest because they are necessarily adverse to each other.  True  False
15. Parties sharing a common interest can be confident that the disclosure of confidential information exchanged during a business transaction will be protected if they execute a joint defense agreement.  True  False
16. In later-filed litigation, a party can avoid having to disclose confidential communications shared with a third party by submitting a privilege log to the trial court.  True  False
17. A party can demonstrate nonwaiver by establishing that a confidential communication took place and submitting a general declaration that the parties share a common interest.  True  False
18. Only parties who physically possess privileged documents need to assert the attorney-client privilege in litigation to prevent the waiver of the privilege.  True  False
19. A party waives the attorney-client privilege and attorney work product protection for documents it shares with the government during a government investigation.  True  False
20. Parties negotiating a business transaction cannot share legal analyses of important issues with each other without waiving the attorney-client privilege and attorney work-product doctrine.  True  False