The Squeezing of Lawyer/Client Privilege

Jonathan D. Glater:

Prosecutors say that they usually do not seek to learn what advice a lawyer provides to a client, but are trying only to learn the facts. In an interview in 2003, James B. Comey, a former United States attorney, said, “They are just seeking the facts, including factual attorney work product.” Lawyers for former KPMG partners have already excoriated the firm’s cooperation and, in particular, its acknowledgment of wrongdoing, contending that the firm did not undertake a thorough internal investigation to justify such a statement. (The statement is unlikely to be admitted in evidence in the criminal case against the former partners, though, lawyers said, and, in any event, it does not identify specific wrongdoers.)