In-House Counsels – Not So Privileged
This article is a humble attempt to understand whether under the Indian laws, Attorney-Client Privilege applies to communications between employees of a corporate entity and their in-house legal counsel, and compare the Indian Scenario with that of the United States of America.
The Statute
The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 is the relevant legislation that governs the admissibility of evidence in any proceeding before a court of law and Sections 126 to 129 are the relevant provisions that govern the concept of Attorney-Client Privilege. Under Section 126, no barrister, attorney, pleader or vakil, is permitted to disclose any communication made to him in the course and for the purpose of his employment as such barrister, pleader, attorney or vakil, by or on behalf of his client without his client's express consent. He is also barred from stating the contents or condition of any document with which he has become acquainted in the course and for the purpose of his professional employment or to disclose any advice given by him to his client in the course and for the purpose of such employment. Under Section 129, he cannot be compelled to disclose to the Court any confidential communication which has taken place between him and his legal professional adviser, unless he offers himself as a witness in which case he may be compelled to disclose any such communication as may appear to the Court necessary to be known in order to explain any evidence which he has give, but not others.
The question of whether the above provisions would apply in the context of an in-house legal counsel in the employment of a company depends on whether such a professional would fall within the scope of the terms “barrister,...
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...the two in-house counsels are provided with the two different roles. It is important to note that merely copying the in-house counsel on an email to non-lawyers is not the best way to request legal advice. Requests for legal advice should be addressed preferably only to the in-house counsel. If non-lawyers have to be notified that a request for legal advice has been made or that legal advice has been received, they can be copied on the e-mail. However, it is best to consider explicitly stating the purpose for which the non-lawyers have been copied.
Please note that this article is not a legal advice. Please request the in-house counsel for advice in case of any doubts. On a lighter note, the request for clarifications on any doubts that this article may leave you with, clearly entails legal advice, and thus, will itself be protected by attorney-client privilege.
Small law firms offer the paralegal a chance to work in many different areas of law and allow them to provide many different services while working on...
If a situation in the future occurs where the competitors may file lawsuits against each other, the attorney could not ethically represent either business due to information learned while representing the businesses on cases prior. A lawyer is required by Rule 1.6, not to use information secured from the representation of one client for the benefit of another client.
In conclusion as we strive to stay current in this rapid changing and demanding legal field, we need to maintain focus on what is at stake here, the quality of service we demand from lawyers and their agents. Clients deserve to be assisted by the people who know their profession and so, we must be in favor of the legislative movement of the control of the paralegal profession.
Freedman, Monroe H., and Abbe Smith. Understanding Lawyers' Ethics. New Providence, NJ: LexisNexis, 2010. Print.
The legal profession has been historically linked with a moral and ethical behaviour on the part of its participants, and as such it is bound to necessitate careful scrutiny, in the same manner that the medical profession does. Solicitors are regulated by the Law Society of Scotland, and advocates by the Faculty of Advocates. Both bodies deal with a variety of matters, from establishing qualifications for admission to the profession to rules of professional conduct and disciplinary actions. They impose certain standards of service and behaviour on legal professionals.
Although the legal profession is a single discourse community, it is made up of many smaller discourse communities. This is so because while all lawyers share the same broad goals of the legal profession and have a general knowledge and expertise in all areas of the law, most lawyers after graduating from law school and passing the bar exam specialize in a particular area of law. This specialization requires the lawyer to go beyond the broad concepts of law as a whole and to become knowledgeable and proficient in the sometimes minute details of a more specific area of law. Even then, some lawyers will go even further to focus on one aspect or another of that particular area of law. This results in most lawyers being members of many even smal...
At the behest of Solicitor General John Les, an inquiry was launched in February o...
The paralegal profession developed as legal secretaries assumed additional duties to help attorneys with their workload. The paralegal performs legal tasks under the supervision of an attorney that maximizes attorneys' productivity and cost efficiency in the delivery of legal services. Paralegals work in many different types of law firms, corporations or government agencies in many areas of law (Hollingshead). All duties performed by a paralegal are under the supervision of an attorney who is responsible for the paralegal’s conduct. In fact, the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Paralegals define paralegals or legal assistants [used synonymously] as a person qualified by education, training or work experiences, who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, government agency, or other entity who performs specific delegated legal substantive work for which a lawyer is responsible (ABA). In class, we learne...
A law firm, which does not have to be located inside the compound, be available to take care of their legal matters.
The Paralegal Professional, A reference to the source of legal information chapter 1 and lettures from class powerpoints.
Professionals are people who have equipped themselves with the knowledge and skills in a given field. The interest of improvement of the professional identity is an evidence of how high standards are placed upon the professionals in the community (Johnson et al., 2012). Each profession creates its norms, values and scope of practice that distinguishes it from any other profession. Different legal ethics are upheld and everyone needs to work as per the stipulated ethics in the field to be part of the profession. People in the field are expected to be knowledgeable and independently use decision
The United States Constitution gives us the right of due process under the Fifth Amendment. The right to an attorney is something that should never be taken away. So how do attorneys help their clients? What standards are set to protect them? There are strict guidelines that attorneys must follow to avoid legal misconduct. These standards are stated by the American Bar Association in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. It is very important that attorneys decide carefully before taking on a case for many reasons. They must remember that they have to carefully consider the needs and problems of their clients and uphold their ethical responsibilities to their profession and the criminal justice system. It is when a lawyer does not balance the needs of the client with the ethical aspects of his or her profession that misconduct can occur.
This legislation does not prevent dismissals from occurring but only allows the employee to challenge their dismissal. The Unfair Dismissals Act 1977-2007 is the legislation that covers the basis for Alfie’s case. In his case, he seeks to prove that his dismissal was unfair and unwarranted. Thereby seeking redress from his employee. Many aspects of his case are pertinent to the Acts as the facts indicate.
Also, it works well with any complaints given to the ministry about a firm violating the law. Inspector also have the right to question the employer or worker with or without witnesses. Questioning workers alone can sometimes be positive or negative. As in if the worker is not happy with his employer he can lie about not following the rules and regulations. On the other hand, some employers force their workers to lie on their behalf about illegal actions taken by the employer or workers. While still being a positive it might reveal offenses by workers or the employer. Inspectors also have the right to “Review all books, records and other documents required to be kept pursuant to the provisions of this Law and related decisions, and obtain any copies or extracts there from.” The firm’s document can reveal a lot about its procedures and activities, if documented inspectors can find any criminal activities or undocumented
Proper Counseling: A Lawyer is responsible to counsel his client deeply and should tell him the future consequences, so that the client can take right decision.