A Privilege Lesson from Elizabeth Holmes: Have a Look at Your Engagement Letter. At the Very Least, Have One.
The Theranos founder last week lost out on her bid to keep a batch of emails between her and the company's former lawyers at Boies Schiller Flexner out of her upcoming criminal trial. One thing that weighed against her: The lack of any sort of engagement letter between the firm and the company.
June 07, 2021 at 07:30 AM
5 minute read
BiotechnologyA federal magistrate judge in San Jose, California, last week opened the door to the possibility that a trove of emails between lawyers at Boies Schiller Flexner and officials at Theranos could be submitted as evidence in the upcoming criminal trial of the defunct blood-testing company's founder Elizabeth Holmes. While exactly what is contained in those emails will have to wait to be seen, one nugget from the decision over whether the communications were privileged jumped out: Boies Schiller didn't have an engagement letter with Theranos or Holmes.
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