Beyond Politics: Attorney-Client Privilege And Work Product Protection

What Evidentiary Privileges Apply When a Lawyer Is Also a Professor and When a Lawyer Acts as Both Legal Counsel and Political Advisor?

Highlights

• In advising a client, a lawyer may take into account and refer to "moral, economic, social and political factors that may be relevant to the client's situation." The questions addressed in a federal district court's recent opinion in Eastman v. Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol include whether such advice is protected by the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine.
• If a lawyer acts as both litigation counsel and a political advisor to his client, to what extent do these evidentiary privileges apply? The Eastman opinion provides an obvious answer: Evidentiary privileges apply if, but only if, the proponent of the privilege can demonstrate that each required element of the privilege is met.