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Preserving the Attorney-Client Privilege
Within the context of corporations and other commercial entities, maintaining and preserving the protections afforded by the attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine require special precautions. If access to information and materials otherwise protected from disclosure is provided to individuals other than those who 'need to know,' then a corporate client may inadvertently waive the protections offered by the attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia explored these issues in Federal Trade Commission v. GlaxoSmithKline, 294 F.3d 141 (D.C. Cir. 2002).
In Glaxo, the FTC issued a subpoena to GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) during the course of its investigation into whether GSK listed its patents properly in the FDA compilation of Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Evaluations. The FTC sought two categories of documents:
- Documents concerning the medication known as Paxil that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois had ordered to be disclosed in separate litigation.
- Information regarding the manufacturing and marketing of Paxil.
Although GSK and the FTC reached an agreement regarding the documents that would be produced, including a process for resolving any disputes, GSK withheld certain documents on the grounds that they were protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent Trolls
With trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.