Another Skirmish in the Privilege Wars

March 8, 2007 | Filed Under Privilege, Criminal Liability, Investigations 

There’s some action in Washington today on the corporate attorney-client privilege front.

As reported in the New Tork Times, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the subject (further info is here).

Two former prosecutors, now in private practice, provided written testimony and will testify that the McNulty Memoradum may not go far enough:

But Andrew Weissmann, who oversaw the prosecution of Enron and is now a partner at Jenner & Block, wrote the panel that the McNulty memorandum “leaves completely intact the government’s ability to penalize a company that does not take punitive action against employees for asserting a constitutional right to remain silent, and reward those companies that do take such action.”

Another former federal prosecutor, William M. Sullivan Jr., who is now a criminal defense lawyer at Winston & Strawn, said in a statement to the committee that “rather than eliminating waiver requests, the McNulty memorandum provides a multitiered procedure for requesting business entities to disclose protected materials.”

We covered the other side of this issue last month.

The full witness list:

– Karen J. Mathis
President, American Bar Association

– Barry M. Sabin
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
United States Department of Justice

– William M. Sullivan Jr.
Partner Winston & Strawn, LLP Washington, DC

– Andrew Weissmann
Partner Jenner and Block, NY, NY

– Richard White
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
The Auto Club Group, Dearborn, Michigan

Mr. White is also Chairman of the Association of Corporate Counsel.