Chats With Counsel: A Perfect Privilege Storm
The way corporate America communicates has changed (again). While email is still a cornerstone of business communications, the adoption of short-form messaging or collaboration tools with embedded chat features has skyrocketed in recent years, spurred by the necessity of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
July 02, 2024 at 11:26 AM
8 minute read
Today, everyone uses chat at work—including counsel. Chats are becoming an increasingly central source of relevant communications in litigation and investigations. Asserting privilege over documents and complying with privilege log requirements is costly and time consuming. Reviewing and asserting privilege over chat conversations that involve counsel is especially difficult. This article seeks to clarify the boundaries of the attorney-client privilege, urges in-house legal professionals to use caution while using chat applications, and encourages litigators to anticipate and avoid discovery disputes.
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