News & Publications

On January 9, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in In re Grand Jury. In this case, the Court is asked to decide the appropriate test for determining whether documents that include legal advice, but also discuss other non-privileged issues, are protected by the attorney-client privilege. The question before the Court is whether a "dual purpose" communication is privileged only if its "primary purpose" was obtaining legal advice, or if the privilege extends to [...]

Justice William Bedsworth's recent column, "Oral Argument: Better Than Oral Surgery," packs a lot of meanings into the title's last four words. (See The Recorder, 12/19/2022.) I suppose it might depend on viewpoint, you know, surgeon or patient, the condition in question, the complexity of the problem, and how direct the approach. I'm not speaking of dentistry here. Getting counsel to answer questions can be like pulling teeth. I was reminded of that yesterday while [...]

SUMMARY On December 1, 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a district court's certification of a nationwide class of 8,000+ retirement plans serving hundreds of thousands of participants in an ERISA action filed against the US's largest service provider for 403(b) retirement plans. The underlying complaint had alleged that the provider's participant loan services — which allow a plan's participants to borrow money using their retirement savings as collateral — [...]