This is the property of the Daily Journal Corporation and fully protected by copyright. It is made available only to Daily Journal subscribers for personal or collaborative purposes and may not be distributed, reproduced, modified, stored or transferred without written permission. Please click "Reprint" to order presentation-ready copies to distribute to clients or use in commercial marketing materials or for permission to post on a website. and copyright (showing year of publication) at the bottom.
Subscribe to the Daily Journal for access to Daily Appellate Reports, Verdicts, Judicial Profiles and more...

Civil Litigation

Feb. 5, 2011

E-mail Communication May Waive Attorney-Client Privilege

Delineations of privileged conversations become even more blurred.

A. Marco Turk

Emeritus Professor, CSU Dominguez Hills

Email: amarcoturk.commentary@gmail.com

A. Marco Turk is a contributing writer, professor emeritus and former director of the Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding program at CSU Dominguez Hills, and currently adjunct professor of law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law.

Just when we thought that the attorney-client privilege was cast in stone; that whatever the client says to the attorney privately and in confidence is sacrosanct and shall not be put asunder - the Internet and that thing called "e-mail" came along. This issue is not the entire case in Holmes v. Petrovich Development Company LLC et al. (Cal. Ct. App. 3rd Dist., Jan. 13, 2011), but it consumes 13 of the 40-page unanimous opinion by retired Presiding Justice Arthur G. Scotland, sitt...

To continue reading, please subscribe.
For only $95 a month (the price of 2 article purchases)
Receive unlimited article access and full access to our archives,
Daily Appellate Report, award winning columns, and our
Verdicts and Settlements.
Or
$795 for an entire year!

Or access this article for $45
(Purchase provides 7-day access to this article. Printing, posting or downloading is not allowed.)

Already a subscriber?

Sign up for Daily Journal emails