Discovery Privileges: Attorney-Client Privilege

This lesson is part of a series of lessons about Discovery. If something is privileged, then, it is not discoverable even though it is relevant and proportional. This lesson will explore the doctrine of attorney-client privilege in the context of civil discovery in federal court litigation. Communications protected by the privilege are not discoverable, even if they are extremely relevant.

You can do the lessons in any order, but it might make more sense to do the one on Discovery Relevance before exploring this lesson or the lesson on the work product doctrine.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to:

1. Explain whose law of privilege applies in the federal courts.
2. List and analyze the elements of the attorney-client privilege, including its application to non-human clients.
3. Apply the doctrine to new sets of facts.
4. Recognize the ways in which clients can waive the privilege outside the context of litigation.