General Counsel’s Growing Prominence May Prompt Privilege Problems

Michael Peregrine and William Schuman wrote this bylined article on how the emerging best practice of granting general counsel greater organizational prominence can have the unintended consequence of weakening attorney-client privilege for the GC’s advice to management. “The burden of proof is placed on the party claiming the privilege, and courts often apply heightened scrutiny to communications to and from in-house counsel,” the authors wrote.