Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Abstract
This article surveys the traditional justifications for giving corporations the benefit of attorney-client privilege. It rejects both moral and utilitarian explanations and argues that, far from being beneficial or benign, the privilege actually does great harm to the truth-seeking function of litigation and imposes tremendous transaction costs on the litigants and on the judicial system as a whole.
Publication Title
Notre Dame Law Review
Document Type
Article
Keywords
privilege, attorney-client privilege, discovery, corporations, litigation ethics
Recommended Citation
Elizabeth G. Thornburg, Sanctifying Secrecy: The Mythology of the Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege, 69 Notre Dame L. Rev. 157 (1993)
Included in
Business Organizations Law Commons, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons, Litigation Commons