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.â€
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.â€
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.