Once the lifecycle of a smart idea begins, talks within your company involving the in-house legal department (should you have one) also start. Are these communications confidential or protected against disclosure? How far does privilege extend to protect a company's innovations and products? These are the complicated questions in-house lawyers often have on their minds as the process unfolds.
In this on-demand webinar, we provide guidance on the availability of privilege in different jurisdictions, and also tackle questions based-on common real-life situations. We deal with issues such as:
- How do legal advice privilege and litigation privilege differentiate?
- What constitutes legal privilege in the US, Canada, UK, and Europe?
- To what extent are communications with in-house patent attorneys privileged?
Speakers
- Gordon Harris - Partner, Gowling WLG
- Hongsun Yoon - Director & Senior IP Counsel, LG Electronics
- Michael Crichton - Partner, Gowling WLG
- Huw Evans - Partner, Gowling WLG
- Déborah Fournet - Legal Director, Gowling WLG
- Ivy Liang - Legal Director, Gowling WLG
- Jon Parker - Partner, Gowling WLG
Watch previous episodes
This is the 20th installment in our Lifecycle of a Smart Idea series, dedicated to helping you maximise opportunity and minimise risk when taking innovative ideas to the global market. Watch more from the series »
Top tips from the panelists
Michael Crichton – Partner, Ottawa, Gowling WLG
- In the age of e-discovery, we have seen parties inadvertently disclose privileged communications because e-mails have slipped through the cracks of the e-discovery processing. To maximize the chances that this does not happen, properly marking privileged communications as PRIVILEGED would assist in ensuring those communications are caught and filtered out
- Communicate by phone or in person
- Consider making an effort to proactively include relevant legal advice in the communication itself
Hongsun Yoon – Director & Senior IP Counsel, Washington, LG Electronics
- Give additional thought to whether it's appropriate to add someone new to an email chain
- Type at the beginning of an email, "DO NOT FORWARD" or note not to forward an email and to check with you before providing information in your email to others
- Write with good news; call with bad news
Déborah Fournet – Legal Director, Paris, Gowling WLG
- Address the issue with clients and train them
- Involving a lawyer is the best possible protection
Jon Parker – Partner, Dubai, Gowling WLG
- Ensure your research teams are taking care of documents, which may not be protected through confidentiality provisions.
Ivy Liang – Legal Director, Guangzhou, Gowling WLG
- Protect communications by signing an NDA
- Deliver confidential opinion in person or only involve persons enjoying privilege in sensitive communications
Huw Evans – Partner, London, Gowling WLG
- It is important that in house teams are familiar with the rules around privilege and particularly in global businesses where the in-house teams need to be thinking about foreign rules as well. Training and educating those individuals within the client who will be the ones seeking the advice and using the advice is important.
CPD information
*This program is eligible for up to one hour of Professionalism content with the LSO, one hour of Ethics content with the Law Society of BC, and one hour of substantive CPD credits with the Barreau du Québec.If you require a certificate of participation please contact Shannon Wadsworth.
Read the original article on GowlingWLG.com
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
