Court: GCs With Non-Legal Roles Have Narrowed Privilege

The Northern District of Illinois found that copying an in-house lawyer “on a given communication does not automatically transform the contents of that message into a privileged request for legal advice.” Finding the line between business and legal advice “is not always easy,” the court stated. The ruling applied the narrow interpretation that privilege would only apply if the “predominant purpose of the communication was to render or solicit legal advice.”