If a client forwards an e-mail from his or her lawyer to a business partner who isn’t involved in the litiga-?
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at
11:06 am
tion,
a. If the business partner discloses the message to anyone else, the privilege between the lawyer and the client will be waived.
b. lawyer-client privilege is lost, because the communication is no longer a secret between lawyer and client.
c. the message remains privileged, because it was’nt posted to a listserv where many unknown third parties prescription drugs without prescription could read it.
B
I think the best answer is (a.). The degree of the business partner’s "involvement" in the litigation is not relevant to the analysis. If I am your partner in the entity that is suing/being sued, sharing information with me does not amount to communication with a non-client; we are partners in the entity. If I proceed to tell someone who has no interest in the entity, the privilege is now waived.