A lawyer reading documents

Court of Appeals Addresses Receipt of Inadvertently Produced Privileged Documents

Division III of the Washington Court of Appeals in Spokane recently surveyed the duties under both the Rules of Professional Conduct and the Superior Court Civil Rules when a lawyer receives what reasonably appears to be a litigation opponent’s inadvertently produced privileged documents. Hur v. Lloyd & Williams, LLC, involved a contract dispute. In responding to the defendant’s document production request, the plaintiff produced over 1,000 pages of emails electronically. The plaintiff’s counsel redacted privileged information from the documents produced and provided a notice regarding the grounds for the redactions with the production rather than a privilege log.

Read More…
Law books

New WSBA Advisory Opinion on Contacting Government Employees

The WSBA Committee on Professional Ethics recently released a new advisory opinion No. 201803 to address the contours of contacting government employees under Washington Rule of Professional Conduct 4.2. The rule generally prohibits communication with a person whom the contacting lawyer “knows to be represented by another lawyer in the matter[.]” Under Wright v. Group […]

Read More…
Legal marijuana sign in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood.

New Marijuana-Related Amendments to Rules of Professional Conduct

After voters approved Initiative 502 in November 2012 permitting and regulating “recreational” marijuana, questions immediately arose regarding the extent to which lawyers could advise and assist clients in state-authorized marijuana businesses. Washington RPC 1.2(d), like its ABA Model Rule counterpart, generally permits lawyers to advise clients on the legality of proposed conduct but prohibits lawyers […]

Read More…