ACC and ACCA-SoCal letter to CA Assembly re Attorney Client privilege
ACC's Southern California Chapter sent a letter to California Assemblyman Harmon in support of Assembly Bill 1133, which he is sponsoring in the California legislature that would clearly codify that inadvertant disclosure of an attorney-client privileged confidence does not waive the privilege. ACCA-So-Cal's letter argues that while the majority of California courts have interpreted the existing law of the state to mean that only an intentional disclosure results in the loss of protection, ambiguities in the language of California Evidence Code § 912 leave open the possibility that protection may be lost through inadvertent disclosure. Potential loss of confidentiality through inadvertent disclosure is an increasing problem as accidental disclosures become more common through the use of electronic communication such as voicemail and e-mail. For example, a person could easily click the wrong button and accidentally send an e-mail to the wrong recipient. For in-house counsel, eroding the privilege's protections by allowing inadvertent disclosures to constitute waiver will only serve to stifle otherwise appropriate communications that are critical in assuring the solicitation and provision of proper legal advice and accurate public disclosures.