Lawyers often hire other professionals – CPAs, psychologists, trial consultants, to name a few – expecting that notes and other records generated by those professional are protected, but this is not necessarily true. The Ninth Circuit recently found that the records generated by an appraiser by hired by a law firm to assist and in giving tax advice and ultimately used in connection with a tax return was not protected by the attorney client privilege or the attorney work product doctrine.
In this case the court’s opinion turned on the specific requirements of the IRS regulations governing valuation services, but the warning to practicing lawyers remains – when you are planning to disclose an expert’s report , carefuly evaluate what privileges you may be waiving or what information you may be making discoverable.
