Ethics

In the much-discussed Ruehle case the Ninth Circuit chose not to decide whether to endorse In re Bevill, Bresler & Schulman Asset Mgmt. Corp., 805 F.2d 120, 123 (3d Cir. 1986), which makes it hard (and on some readings essentially impossible) for a corporate employee to claim true joint client status in the sense of controlling privilege with regard to her own statements to entity counsel.  The Ninth Circuit jumped off the fence today, endorsing Bevill in United States v. Graf ( Download 07-50100).  I am against the Bevill test on pragmatic grounds, but the tide is plainly against that view.

DM