Tag: attorney work product privilege

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10 For 10

10 For 10: Top Compliance Stories For the Week Ending August 16, 2025

Welcome to 10 For 10, the podcast that brings you the week’s Top 10 compliance stories in one podcast each week. Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, brings to you, the compliance professional, the compliance stories you need to be aware of to end your busy week. Sit back, and in 10 minutes, hear about the stories every compliance professional should be aware of from the prior week. Every Saturday, 10 For 10 highlights the most important news, insights, and analysis for the compliance professional, all curated by the Voice of Compliance, Tom Fox. Get your weekly filling of compliance stories with 10 for 10, a podcast produced by the Compliance Podcast Network.

  • Attorney-client privilege is protected in the FirstEnergy litigation. (Reuters)
  • BCG’s Gaza project is so offensive that 4 staffers quit the company. (FT)
  • Albania (of all countries) turns to AI to fight corruption. (Politico)
  • 5th ex-Peruvian President jailed for corruption. (Al Jazeera)
  • The human cost of corruption. (Just Security)
  • The bribe-based bill remains the law in Ohio. (Brennan Center for Justice)
  • Musk threatens to sue over bad Apple App Store rankings. (FT)
  • South Korea’s ex-First Lady arrested for corruption. (NYT)
  • CZ pushes for a pardon. (NYT)
  • Piston’s Malik Beasley is facing gambling allegations. (NYPost)

You can check out the Daily Compliance News for four curated compliance- and ethics-related stories each day, here.

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31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

One Month to More Effective Reporting and Investigations – The Parameters of Privileges

The concept of privilege in an internal investigation is critical. Two important privileges are the attorney-client privilege and the work product privilege. Unfortunately, both are often misunderstood, miss-applied and consequently lost. To determine whether you have a valid privilege claim, it is incumbent to understand the parameters of the attorney-client privilege. In presentation, entitled “Attorney-Client Privilege ”, David E. Keltner, Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP, Elizabeth Brummett and Adrienne Parham, both from University of Texas Law School, wrote that under U.S. federal law, the attorney-client privilege applies when the following are present:

  1.  A client is seeking legal advice or a lawyer’s services;
  2. The person to whom the communication is made is a lawyer or his or her representative;
  3. The communication relates to a fact disclosed from a client (a representative) to a lawyer (a representative);
  4. Strangers are not present;
  5. A client requires confidentiality.

In addition to the attorney-client privilege there is another privilege which can come into play around internal investigations. It is the attorney work-product doctrine. Keltner noted, “The attorney-client privilege and the attorney work-product doctrine are often asserted interchangeably. While there is some overlap between the two, the attorney-client privilege is significantly different than the attorney work-product doctrine.” Moreover as “codified in Fed R.Civ. P. 26(b)(3), [the attorney/work product] provides a qualified protection to materials prepared by party’s counsel or other representative in the anticipation of litigation.” The doctrine exists “because it permits lawyers to “work with a certain degree of privacy, free from unnecessary intrusion by opposing parties . . .””

Three key takeaways:

  1. Note the differences in the attorney-client privilege and attorney work-product doctrine.
  2. Both can be waived intentionally or through inadvertent conduct.
  3. Take care on attorney work-product outside the U.S., where there may be no privilege at all.