{"id":33855,"date":"2021-07-06T06:20:10","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T10:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.finchmccranie.com\/blog\/?p=33855"},"modified":"2024-09-04T02:50:13","modified_gmt":"2024-09-04T06:50:13","slug":"when-a-privileged-conversation-isnt-the-crime-fraud-exception-to-attorney-client-privilege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.finchmccranie.com\/blog\/when-a-privileged-conversation-isnt-the-crime-fraud-exception-to-attorney-client-privilege\/","title":{"rendered":"When a Privileged Conversation Isn\u2019t: The Crime-Fraud Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-33875 size-full alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.finchmccranie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/protected-files.jpg\" alt=\"a binder of files chained with a padlock\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.finchmccranie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/protected-files.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.finchmccranie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/protected-files-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.finchmccranie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/protected-files-180x120.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>When the government investigates or prosecutes alleged <a href=\"https:\/\/www.finchmccranie.com\/white-collar-criminal-defense-lawyer.html\">corporate crime<\/a>, a key question commonly emerges: Will the accused client waive attorney-client privilege and disclose relevant communications to the government?<\/p>\n<p>This issue often arises because lawyers are routinely involved in corporate actions and decisions later subject to government scrutiny.\u00a0 \u201cThe extensiveness and complexity of the laws governing\u201d corporate affairs \u201chave made legal advice a crucial element of [not only] major business decisions,\u201d but also of \u201cmore mundane kinds of corporate activity.\u201d\u00a0 Douglas W. Hawes &amp; Thomas J. Sherrard, <em>Reliance on Advice of Counsel as a Defense in Corporate and Securities Cases<\/em>, 62 Va. L. Rev. 1, 5 (1976).\u00a0 As the Supreme Court emphasized in <em>Upjohn Co. v. United States<\/em>, 449 U.S. 383, 389 (1981), relying on attorneys is especially important \u201c[i]n light of the vast and complicated array of regulatory legislation confronting the modern corporation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ordinarily, the client\u2014and only the client\u2014has the authority to decide whether to waive attorney-client privilege on communications with counsel.\u00a0 Where an accused-client is cooperating with a government investigation or asserting an advice of counsel defense in response to formal charges, the waiver analysis is generally straightforward: the accused-client waives privilege and discloses relevant communications to the government.\u00a0 The resulting disclosure often reveals critical information to the government because of the substantial involvement of lawyers in much corporate conduct and decision-making.<\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.finchmccranie.com\/blog\/when-a-privileged-conversation-isnt-the-crime-fraud-exception-to-attorney-client-privilege\/\"  title=\"Continue Reading When a Privileged Conversation Isn\u2019t: The Crime-Fraud Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the government investigates or prosecutes alleged corporate crime, a key question commonly emerges: Will the accused client waive attorney-client privilege and disclose relevant communications to the government? This issue often arises because lawyers are routinely involved in corporate actions and decisions later subject to government scrutiny.\u00a0 \u201cThe extensiveness and complexity of the laws governing\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-white-collar-and-federal-criminal-defense"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>When a Privileged Conversation Isn\u2019t: The Crime-Fraud Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege &#8212; Trial Attorney Blog &#8212; July 6, 2021<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When the government investigates or prosecutes alleged corporate crime, a key question commonly emerges: Will the accused client waive attorney-client &#8212; July 6, 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.finchmccranie.com\/blog\/when-a-privileged-conversation-isnt-the-crime-fraud-exception-to-attorney-client-privilege\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"When a Privileged Conversation Isn\u2019t: The Crime-Fraud Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege &#8212; Trial Attorney Blog &#8212; July 6, 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"When the government investigates or prosecutes alleged corporate crime, a key question commonly emerges: Will the accused client waive attorney-client &#8212; July 6, 2021\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.finchmccranie.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/protected-files.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Finch McCranie, LLP\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When a Privileged Conversation Isn\u2019t: The Crime-Fraud Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege &#8212; 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