Lex Mundi beefs up attorney-client privilege guide with Illinois firm's help

Global independent law firm network Lex Mundi has beefed up its attorney-client privilege guide with the help of Illinois-based Jenner & Block LLP.

The expanded guide now covers 106 jurisdictions in 69 countries, resulting the guide becoming “the broadest resource of its kind freely available to general counsel and in-house legal teams,” Lex Mundi said in a press release.

“The Lex Mundi Global Attorney-Client Privilege Guide is the broadest resource available regarding attorney-client privilege and professional confidentiality.  The guide enables in-house and outside counsel to identify key and significant differences among jurisdictions and provides citations to enable further research,” Jenner & Block partner David Greenwald said. “Each submission discusses whether or not the jurisdiction considers in-house counsel to be within the privilege or bound by the rules of professional confidentiality.”

The guide outlines both common and civil law attorney-client privileges, taking into account US federal law, the state laws of 32 US states and the laws in four Canadian provinces. The guide looks into the rules for the following:

• privilege/confidentiality for corporations
• in-house counsel
• litigation funding
• crime-fraud exception
• work product doctrine/litigation privilege

Jenner & Block worked on the guide with Lex Mundi’s litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution group.

“Our recent guide demonstrates the high calibre of insight we can rely upon from our member law firms around the world, who are able to collaborate to create comprehensive, informative and user-friendly resources for corporate counsel and in-house teams,” Lex Mundi global practices head Lauren Smith said.