Ethics

Over the last year or so, we've had some discussions about the Bevill case's holding, which limits the ability of an organizational agent (e.g., a corporate officer) to assert that she/he had an attorney client relationship (ACR) with the entity's lawyer.  I had taken the position that Bevill made sense when the lawyer was indisputably working for the organization and the agent wanted to assert a "me too" claim -- that is, when the agent lacked a formal ACR with the lawyer but wanted to assert privilege, etc., nonetheless, based upon interactions with the lawyers.  I questioned whether Bevill should be applied in those situations -- and there are lots of them -- where the agent unquestionably and formally has an ACR with the lawyer.  Applying a strong version of Bevill in those cases results in a formal ACR in which the key protections of the ACR are absent.

White Collar Crime Prof and Corporate Counsel discuss a Third Circuit case looking at this distinction.