The House on Nov. 13 passed on voice vote H.R. 3013, the Attorney-Client Privilege Act of 2007, which would preserve the privacy of communications between corporations and their lawyers.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Robert Scott, would bar federal prosecutors from demanding corporations waive attorney-client privilege and would not let prosecutors consider a corporation's cooperation with such demands in deciding to prosecute.

According to the Coalition to Preserve the Attorney Client Privilege, which includes groups such as the ACLU and ACC, said in a statement that the Act “simply reverses DOJ and other agencies' enforcement policies and practices adopted in the last few years that erode both the attorney-client privilege as defined by the courts and other fundamental defense rights of individual employees defined by the justice system and Constitution.”

Similar legislation, sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, has been introduced in the Senate and is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“This is an issue of correcting errant prosecutorial behavior,” said Susan Hackett, senior vice president and general counsel of the Association of Corporate Counsel, in a statement. “This bill is needed to forbid abusive government practices that strip those targeted by a government investigation of their rights to confidential counsel.”

The House on Nov. 13 passed on voice vote H.R. 3013, the Attorney-Client Privilege Act of 2007, which would preserve the privacy of communications between corporations and their lawyers.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Robert Scott, would bar federal prosecutors from demanding corporations waive attorney-client privilege and would not let prosecutors consider a corporation's cooperation with such demands in deciding to prosecute.

According to the Coalition to Preserve the Attorney Client Privilege, which includes groups such as the ACLU and ACC, said in a statement that the Act “simply reverses DOJ and other agencies' enforcement policies and practices adopted in the last few years that erode both the attorney-client privilege as defined by the courts and other fundamental defense rights of individual employees defined by the justice system and Constitution.”

Similar legislation, sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, has been introduced in the Senate and is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“This is an issue of correcting errant prosecutorial behavior,” said Susan Hackett, senior vice president and general counsel of the Association of Corporate Counsel, in a statement. “This bill is needed to forbid abusive government practices that strip those targeted by a government investigation of their rights to confidential counsel.”