Court to Rule on Republican Lawsuit Seeking Access to New Jersey Governor Corize’s Email

Jul 29, 10:11 AM EDT Lawyers to argue whether Corzine e-mails can be made public By TOM HESTER Jr. Associated Press Writer

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A judge in Trenton this week will consider whether to dismiss a Republican lawsuit seeking to make public e-mails exchanged between Gov. Jon S. Corzine and a state worker union leader who once dated Corzine. State Superior Court Judge Paul Innes has scheduled a Friday hearing to consider Corzine’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Tom Wilson – the New Jersey Republican Party chairman who wants to see whether the relationship between Corzine and Carla Katz tainted recent state worker contract talks.

for more, see northjersey.com.

House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Approves Modified Version of Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security approved a modified version the House privilege waiver bill, H.R. 3013, on July 24 by voice vote.  The report of the edited bill followed a flurry of letters from the Florida Bar, the Illinois State Bar Association, and the New York City Bar to their respective Representatives on the House Judiciary Committee urging support of the bill.  The full House Judiciary Committee is expected to take up the bill in its current form as early as next week, and could approve the measure soon. We will remain apprised of further developments.  For more information, see below an excerpt from CQ Today (re the markup and text of H.R. 3013) and copies of supportive letters from the NYC, Illinois, and Florida Bar Associations, respectively. 

We will remain apprised of further developments.

CQ TODAY – LEGAL AFFAIRS
July 24, 2007 – 8:32 p.m.House Judiciary Bill Designed to Protect Attorney-Client Privilege By Seth Stern, CQ StaffA House Judiciary subcommittee approved bipartisan legislation Tuesday intended to protect companies’ attorney-client privilege.Approved by voice vote, the measure (HR 3013) would bar federal prosecutors and agents from demanding a waiver of the attorney-client privilege or using a waiver as a factor in determining whether a defendant has been cooperative. Also, defendants could not be pressured to surrender confidential information resulting from their attorneys’ work.The Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security deferred debate on the measure until the full committee markup. The bill is a response to a Justice Department policy that requires companies to waive the attorney-client privilege and release the results of internal investigations in order to be viewed as cooperative and qualify for more lenient punishment.That directive, detailed in a 2003 memo by Deputy Attorney General Larry D. Thompson, was a response to a wave of corporate scandals that implicated companies such as Enron Corp. and WorldCom.The policy has been criticized by a broad coalition of business and legal groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. They contend that the directive undermines a historic shield designed to encourage clients to speak openly with their attorneys.The Justice Department announced a change in the policy in December 2006 that eliminated formal demands for the waiver of privilege. Supporters of the legislation say the department’s revised policy is inadequate because it doesn’t cover more informal requests for a waiver.The bill is sponsored by
Robert C. Scott, D-Va., the subcommittee chairman. It has two Democratic and six Republican cosponsors.Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has introduced a companion measure (S 186). Source: CQ Today
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House Introduces “Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act” — A Privilege Waiver Bill with Strong Bi-Partisan Support

Representatives Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Randy Forbes (R-VA), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, respectively, introduced a new privilege waiver bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. The new House bill, H.R. 3013, is an identical, companion measure to Sen. Arlen Specter’s privilege waiver bill, S. 186, titled the “Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2007.”

Over the past several months, the ABA and other organizations were able to persuade a number of key House members to sign on as original cosponsors of the new bipartisan House bill. Along with Reps. Scott and Forbes, the other original cosponsors include House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), the Committee’s Ranking Member, Lamar Smith (R-TX), and Committee members Dan Lungren (R-CA), Howard Coble (R-NC), Artur Davis (D-AL), and Tom Feeney (R-FL). Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, also signed on as an original cosponsor, giving the bill strong bipartisan support in the House.

ABA President Karen Mathis has issued a statement in support of the new House bill. The official text of H.R. 3013 has not been posted on the Library of Congress website, nor is it available generally, but attached is a working draft of the bill, which should be virtually the same as H.R. 3013 (except the larger group of original cosponsors are not listed).

For more, see Coalition Statement on HR 3013; ABA Statement in Support of HR 3013; HR 3013.