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The Protection of Confidentiality or Legal Privilege for In-house Counsel in Europe

July 2008
PrivilegeIndustry

Abstract

The protection of the confidentiality and legal privilege against use of communications between a corporation and its in-house legal advisers is an important issue for the implementation of successful business strategies. Corporations should not be discouraged from seeking advice from their in-house counsels about their business and compliance with the applicable laws and regulations. The United States Supreme Court asserted long ago that the purpose of the rule of attorney-client privilege is to "encourage clients to make full disclosures to their attorneys". It therefore protects the confidentiality of communications between corporate clients both with their external and internal lawyers. This paper sets forth the latest developments with respect to the rule of legal privilege for in house counsels in Europe and seeks to identity avenues of improvement.

Author

Jean-Philippe Carriere
Group General Counsel, Seita / Altadis, France

Born in Paris in 1959 , I graduated from the Paris University of Law in 1982 and started working in Washington DC as a Legal Attaché for the French Embassy (1982-1984 ). I then joigned ,as Legal Counsel, a law firm in Paris focusing on patents , trademarks and designs ( 1985-1987 ) , before serving as in-house Legal Manager in the perfume / cosmetic industry , were I held senior positions in the Legal department ( 1988 - 1994 ). I joigned SEITA for its privatization in 1995 and was instrumental in the creation / implementation of the ALTADIS combination of businesses in 1999 . My present responsabilities at SEITA / ALTADIS are Group General Counsel and Vice- Secretary of the Board .

Company

Seita / Altadis

SEITA / ALTADIS , now an IMPERIAL TOBACCO group of companies , is a world leader in cigars , a strong player in the cigarette and RYO industry and a major logistics operator for tobacco products in Europe , with an economic turnover in 2007 of over 4 billion Euros

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