[WSBAPT] Litigators/confidentiality

[Philip N. Jones]

It has always been my understanding that having a third party in the room waives the attorney-client privilege, unless the third party is in the room for the purposes of assisting in providing legal services. For example, the client might want to bring her accountant along so that the accountant can discuss legal issues with the attorney. The same would apply to an interpreter.
Phil Jones

Philip N. Jones
Duffy Kekel LLP
Portland, OR
pjones at duffykekel.com
(503) 853-1482 cell

On Jun 15, 2022, at 1:15 PM, Roger Hawkes <Roger at law-hawks.com> wrote:


I think having others in the conference breaches the atty client privilege.

From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Diane J. Kiepe
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2022 11:40 AM
To: 'WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv' <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBAPT] Litigators/confidentiality

Hello to the Litigators out there – regarding the rule of confidentiality, if a client allows someone to be present in a meeting, or call and receive information from me on their file, I view that as not opening the door to others on information discussed/shared with that party – it’s been a long time though since I’ve looked at the rules and was wondering if anyone had any quick thoughts on that point?

I draft my engagement letters to allow some information to be released to named fiduciaries in estate plans and allow the client to denote who I can share information with.  Of course there’s also the case where generations come in to discuss top generation estate planning.  Just reflecting and wondering if I need to change my practice a bit.

Diane J. Kiepe

Diane J. Kiepe
Douglas Eden
717 W. Sprague Ave.
Suite 1500
Spokane, WA  99201
djkiepe at depdslaw.com<mailto:djkiepe at depdslaw.com>
509-455-5300

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