Inadvertent Disclosure of Documents Subject to Attorney-Client Privilege

This Note evaluates these judicial approaches to inadvertent disclosure in the context of document productions. Part I briefly reviews the purposes of the attorney-client privilege and argues that any test of waiver should be based on the client’s intent to maintain confidentiality. Part II examines the traditional approach to waiver and rejects the rationales which support it. Part III concludes that a test based on the sufficiency of precautions taken against disclosure, rather than a test based on the intervention of an outside force, best reflects a client’s intent. Part IV examines various factors that might be included in the reasonable precautions test.