This morning, a unanimous Illinois Supreme Court has held that the doctrine of subject matter waiver of attorney-client and work product privileges does not apply in the vast majority of cases to disclosures made outside the context of litigation. For our pre-argument preview of Center Partners, Ltd. v. Growth Head GP, LLC [pdf], see here. For our … Continue Reading
Today, the Illinois Supreme Court adopted Rule 502 of the Illinois Rules of Evidence, governing the circumstances in which disclosure of protected materials in a legal proceeding, or before a state or federal office or agency, affects a more general waiver of the attorney-client or work product privilege. The new state Rule 502 tracks Federal … Continue Reading
Our reports on the oral arguments of the Illinois Supreme Court’s September term continue with Ferguson v. Patton. Ferguson involves a potentially important issue for the growing field of government ethics law: can the ethics officer sue another official of the same government entity to enforce his or her subpoenas? To watch the video of the argument, … Continue Reading
A casual viewer might be forgiven after watching the oral argument last week in Center Partners, Ltd. v. Growth Head GP, LLC for being uncertain exactly what the law of Illinois was regarding the applicability of subject matter waiver to disclosures of attorney-client communications outside litigation. In a nearly hour-long debate, opposing counsel presented diametrically opposed … Continue Reading
Our preview of the September term of the Illinois Supreme Court continues with Ferguson v. Georges [pdf], a case which might prove to have important implications for Illinois political ethics law. Ferguson is an in-house dispute between the Inspector General of Chicago and the Corporation Counsel for the city. The Inspector General is charged with investigating … Continue Reading
Our preview of the September term continues with Center Partners, Ltd. v. Growth Head GP, LLC [pdf]. Center Partners involves a dispute over the purchase of a property company. Defendants – a maze of corporations, partnerships and trusts we’ll call Westfield, Rouse and Simon – negotiated the purchase of the assets of Rodamco North America. Rodamco owned … Continue Reading
