Lawyers in Michigan have opened a new front in the battle against Department of Justice demands that companies waive their attorney-client and work-product privileges to get credit for being cooperative, with a first-of-its-kind ethical rule to prohibit government attorneys in that state from demanding such waivers.
Samuel Damren, a Detroit lawyer who chairs the State Bar of Michigan’s task force on the waiver of the attorney-client privilege, contends that when government prosecutors come to Michigan, “they’re subject to Michigan rules. The rules of professional conduct apply to prosecutors.”
