Who Are My Clients? Avoiding Stormy Privilege Issues With California Employees

Seyfarth Synopsis: Given recent headlines, a storm could be brewing over the boundaries of the attorney-client privilege in some parts of the country. California employers can avoid this vortex, at least when dealing with their current and former employees. Both can be part of the "corporate client" for purposes of attorney-client privilege, so long as communications with counsel meet a few requirements.

To provide sound legal advice, in-house counsel often communicate with current and even former employees from all levels of their corporations. Particularly with the storm over the scope of the attorney-client privilege currently raging in Washington, it never hurts to review when employees are "corporate clients" whose communications are privileged and sheltered from disclosure. The last place an employer wants to find itself is in the rain, without an umbrella, when the government or a bombastic plaintiff's attorney starts poking around for in-house counsel's