A proposed new rule of evidence for federal courts that was intended to limit disclosure of privileged corporate information may be more of a mixed bag than originally anticipated.
Rule 502 would for the first time expressly provide that information disclosed to a government agency does not lose its privileged nature and could not be used in the future by private plaintiffs in civil lawsuits or by others. But this “selective waiver” provision of the rule has been panned by the Association of Corporate Counsel and others, who believe that it will give the government more impetus to demand waivers—despite a new policy from the Justice Department attempting to limit waiver requests.
