Protecting Attorney-Client Privilege: Making Sure What's Said In House Stays In House

By Cynthia J. Larose

Attorney-client privilege, and how to ensure that advice and counsel to their clients is covered by the privilege, is always a top-of-mind issue for in-house counsel, particularly with respect to compliance questions.   The privacy office does not always report into the legal department in all companies.  Therefore, when it comes to data breach compliance and privacy advice, privacy offices must work closely with the general counsel's office or with outside counsel to ensure that the attorney-client privilege is established and protected.  Three Mintz Levin lawyers recently recently published an article on this topic in the G2 Compliance Advisor published by Bloomberg BNA.  The article, Keeping Legal Advice In-House: Protecting the Attorney-Client Privilege, provides an overview of the privilege; examines how the privilege applies (or does not apply) to communications to and from in-house counsel, outside counsel, and compliance professionals; discusses common privilege issues; and offers practical tips for protecting the privilege.  Although this applies specifically to healthcare, the principles are the same.

 

 

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  • Cynthia J. Larose

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    Cynthia J. Larose

    Member / Co-Chair, Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice

    Cynthia J. Larose is Chair of the firm's Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice, a Certified Information Privacy Professional-US (CIPP-US), and a Certified Information Privacy Professional-Europe (CIPP-E). She works with clients in various industries to develop comprehensive information security programs on the front end, and provides timely counsel when it becomes necessary to respond to a data breach.