Doe v. Poe, 1998 N.Y. Int. 090 (July 1, 1998).

EVIDENCE - ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE

ISSUE & DISPOSITION

Issue

Whether communications and documents are protected by the attorney-client privilege when an attorney is acting in a non-representational capacity.

Disposition

No. Since the appellants failed to prove that the attorney in question was acting as an attorney or an agent at either of the meetings in question, the information is not privileged.

SUMMARY

The Supreme Court refused to unseal the record of the hearing it conducted in an earlier related proceeding on the assumption that the record contained privileged information. The Appellate Division determined that the communications and documents were not protected by the attorney-client privilege because the attorney, Mr. P., attended the meetings in a non-representational capacity. The Court of Appeals affirmed.

Prepared By:

• Sarah E. Buffett, '99
• Andrew Cohen, '99
• Joshua Eisenberg, '00
• Meredith Ford, '99
• Sheila Kiernan, '00
• L. Ashley Lattal, '00