for a client of the employer law firm. But, as Tucker Ellis notes, many law firm documents will reflect the work product of multiple current and former attorneys, potentially practicing in multiple jurisdictions. Securing permission from these attorneys to disclose their work product, and resolving conflicts among them when they do not agree about whether certain information constitutes work product or who was involved in creating it, will be a burdensome and complicated task for a law firm required to comply with requests for disclosure while preserving the privilege. In addition, to the extent this task involves former attorneys who created work product for current firm clients, as here, the purpose of the attorney work product privilege will be better served by allowing the firm itself with current knowledge of ongoing litigation and client issues and in the context of the on-going attorney-client relationships to speak with one voice firm’s regarding the assertion of the privilege. By declining to extend the scope of the attorney work product privilege to include Nelson in this case we also avoid undue intrusion into the equally sacrosanct duty of a law firm to zealously represent the interests of its clients with undivided loyalty. As our high court has have a duty to aptly explained: “Attorneys maintain undivided loyalty to their clients to avoid undermining public confidence in the legal profession and the judicial process. [Citations.] The effective functioning of the fiduciary relationship between attorney and client depends on the trust and client’s confidence in counsel. [Citation.] The courts will protect legitimate expectations clients’ of loyalty to preserve this essential basis for trust and security in the attorney-client (People ex rel. Dept. of Corporations v. SpeeDee Oil Change Systems, Inc. relationship.” (1999) 20 Cal.4th 1135, 1146-1147.) We conclude by again emphasizing the narrowness of our holding. We hold only that, under California law and on the record before us, Tucker Ellis is the holder of the section 2018.030 attorney work product privilege that attached to documents created by Nelson during and in the scope of his employment. As the holder of the attorney work product privilege, Tucker Ellis had no legal duty to secure permission before Nelson’s disclosing the documents to others.
for a client of the employer law firm. But, as Tucker Ellis notes, many law firm documents will reflect the work product of multiple current and former attorneys, potentially practicing in multiple jurisdictions. Securing permission from these attorneys to disclose their work product, and resolving conflicts among them when they do not agree about whether certain information constitutes work product or who was involved in creating it, will be a burdensome and complicated task for a law firm required to comply with requests for disclosure while preserving the privilege. In addition, to the extent this task involves former attorneys who created work product for current firm clients, as here, the purpose of the attorney work product privilege will be better served by allowing the firm itself with current knowledge of ongoing litigation and client issues and in the context of the firm’s on-going attorney-client relationships to speak with one voice regarding the assertion of the privilege. By declining to extend the scope of the attorney work product privilege to include Nelson in this case we also avoid undue intrusion into the equally sacrosanct duty of a law firm to zealously represent the interests of its clients with undivided loyalty. As our high court has aptly explained: “Attorneys have a duty to maintain undivided loyalty to their clients to avoid undermining public confidence in the legal profession and the judicial process. [Citations.] The effective functioning of the fiduciary relationship between attorney and client depends on the client’s trust and confidence in counsel. [Citation.] The courts will protect clients’ legitimate expectations of loyalty to preserve this essential basis for trust and security in the attorney-client relationship.” (People ex rel. Dept. of Corporations v. SpeeDee Oil Change Systems, Inc. (1999) 20 Cal.4th 1135, 1146-1147.) We conclude by again emphasizing the narrowness of our holding. We hold only that, under California law and on the record before us, Tucker Ellis is the holder of the section 2018.030 attorney work product privilege that attached to documents created by Nelson during and in the scope of his employment. As the holder of the attorney work product privilege, Tucker Ellis had no legal duty to secure Nelson’s permission before disclosing the documents to others.
A148956.DOCX