Insult to Injury

Chapter TenFACT OR FICTION

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FEW PEOPLE REALIZE THAT IN ADDITION TO THE MORE COMMON privileges such as the attorney-client privilege, which conceals from public exposure verbal or written communications between a lawyer and client, something called the “work-product privilege” also exists. Under this, virtually everything an attorney does in preparation for litigation is out of bounds to discovery.

For example, if a lawyer is fishing around for an expert witness to testify on a client’s behalf, the lawyer can talk to any number of experts before choosing one. The identities of all the rejected experts can be hidden from the other side, concealed forever. The “designated” expert’s identity is disclosed only after he or she is formally “declared” ...