Privilege and Insured-Insurer Communications

The attorney-client privilege is one of the most well-recognized concepts of legal practice, with high-profile references to the doctrine appearing in movies, books, and news articles. On the surface, the boundaries of the attorney-client privilege appear relatively simple. The privilege serves as a shield to protect private communications concerning legal advice between a client and an attorney. In practice, the scope of the privilege and its application is not always so straightforward.  In this column, SRZ partner Howard B. Epstein and special counsel Theodore A. Keyes discuss privilege issues that arise in the context of insured-insurer communications.