Attorney-Client Privilege Doesn’t Shield Company in Suit by Inhouse Counsel

• Posted by Geoffrey G. Gussis on September 8th, 2005


• Filed in News

Law.com has an interesting article on a dilemma that has often faced inhouse counsel - if you are fired and sue your employer for unlawful termination, can your former employer claim that critical evidence that you want to use is inadmissible based on attorney-client privilege? If you’re a corporate attorney in Texas, the 5th Circuit has just resolved this issue in your favor:

"For years, it has been nearly impossible for in-house counsel at Texas companies to bring whistleblower suits against their employers, because companies could claim that the attorney-client privilege protected important evidence from disclosure in such litigation. But a recent 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision changes all that. The Aug. 24 ruling concerns an appeal of an
administrative dismissal of a whistleblower complaint filed by an
in-house lawyer. The 5th Circuit held in Willy v. Administrative Review Board, U.S. Department of Labor
that the U.S. Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board
incorrectly dismissed the in-house lawyer’s complaint, after the board
determined that a key piece of evidence needed to prove his allegations
could not be disclosed because of the attorney-client privilege between
the lawyer and the company."

Link: law.com - Attorney-Client Privilege Doesn’t Shield Company in Suit.