United States First Circuit

For the attorney-client privilege to extend to records prepared by or disclosed to a non-attorney third party, the involvement of the third party must be nearly indispensable or serve some specialized purpose in facilitating the attorney-client communications; here, documents created by or disclosed to accounting firm were not privileged merely because accounting firm aided attorneys in providing legal advice to clients, and common-interest exception to waiver rule did not apply because the exception presumes the existence of a valid underlying privilege.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/01/2002
• Published 04/01/2002

Judges

• LYNCH, Circuit Judge., Before TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge, STAHL, Senior Circuit Judge, and LYNCH, Circuit Judge.

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• William H. Paine with whom Mary B. Strother and Hale and Dorr LLP were on brief for appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Edward T. Perelmuter, Attorney, Tax Division, Department of Justice, with whom Eileen J. O'Connor, Assistant Attorney General, Richard Farber, Attorney, Tax Division, Department of Justice, and Michael J. Sullivan, United States Attorney, of counsel, were on brief for appellee.