Bloomberg's ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct Publishes Article by Jacques Semmelman, Jonathan Walsh and Robert Quirk on "Protecting Client Communications with Foreign Counsel from Discovery in U.S. Litigation"

Litigation partners Jacques Semmelman and Jonathan Walsh and associate Robert Quirk published an article, “Protecting Client Communications with Foreign Counsel from Discovery in U.S. Litigation” in the March 11 edition of Bloomberg's ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct.

The article is based on the premise that foreign companies assume their communications with their own non-U.S. in-house or outside counsel will automatically be treated as privileged and protected from discovery in U.S. litigation. However, as the authors point out, they may face a rude shock. In several decisions, U.S. courts have required non-U.S. parties to disclose communications with their non-U.S. in-house counsel and with their unlicensed non-U.S. outside counsel.

The article covers the relevant issues concerning this sensitive interaction and offers potential solutions that can help ensure that a communication with foreign counsel will be protected by the attorney-client privilege during U.S. litigation.