Time to check your licensure status….before someone else does:
Ruling that a corporation did not take reasonable precautions to confirm in-house counsel’s authority to practice law, a federal magistrate judge from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected the corporation’s assertion of attorney-client privilege for communications involving its in-house counsel who was an “inactive” member of the State Bar of California.
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Other posts:
- Foreign Logic: Recent EU Ruling Continues to Deprive In-House Lawyers of Privilege
- Attorney-Client Privilege and the In-House Attorney (CLE Wednesday May 5th, 2010 – NYC)
- Attorney-Client Privilege and the In-House Attorney (CLE on May 5th, 2010 – NYC)
- Bar None? Wisconsin In-House Counsel in Hot Water over Licensure Issues
- Attorney-Client Privilege Doesn’t Shield Company in Suit by Inhouse Counsel
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
No one should really be surprised by this decision. If you are not an ACTIVE member of at least one bar, then you are not licensed to practice law, which is the first condition for the assertion of attorney-client privilege. It doesn’t matter if you are in private practice, house counsel, or a government attorney. In addition, for inhouse counsel licensed in another jurisdiction, inhouse counsel also have to meet the requirements for rendering legal advice to your employer where you are located. [Many states now have special provisions for house counsel licensed in another jurisdiction.]
Corporations have a very simple way to confirm bar membership each year. They should pay at least one ACTIVE bar membership a year. That way they confirm at a nominal cost and have documented proof in the file through the expense report that the inhouse counsel is an active member in at least one bar. How hard is that?