Kang Haggerty Newsby The YL Editorial Board
Articles Posted in Publications
Legal Intelligencer: Wolf Needs to Nominate Eakin’s Replacement Soon
by The YL Editorial Board
Practical Guide to Restrictive Covenants in PA and NJ
Businesses invest time and money to develop their business procedures, relationships and information, such as marketing strategies, customer information, pricing strategies, and future business development initiatives. These models and information provide businesses a competitive edge, and employers have a strong incentive to guard such assets and protect their businesses by all means reasonably necessary. Employers can typically accomplish this through using a combination of nondisclosure agreements, nonsolicitation agreements, and other restrictive covenants.
Be Careful Before Relying on the Common Interest Doctrine
The common interest doctrine (CID), also known as the community-of-interest doctrine, is an exception to the general rule that attorney-client privilege (ACP) is waived when privileged information is shared with a third party. The CID allows attorneys representing different clients with the same or substantially similar legal interests to agree to (and do) share privileged information without waiving the ACP.
For the CID to apply, (1) there must generally be co-parties (that is, co-plaintiffs or co-defendants—but the CID may also apply to communications between parties and nonparties, and sometimes in nonlitigation matters), (2) the co-parties must be represented by separate counsel (the CID is different from the co-client (or joint-client) privilege, which applies when multiple clients hire the same attorney to represent them on a matter of common interest), and (3) the co-parties must share a common legal interest, not merely a common commercial interest. Courts are divided on whether interests must be legally identical or somewhat less than that, such as substantially similar. And, of course, there must be an agreement among attorneys to share information.
If the above requirements are met, separate counsel for separate parties (or clients) may share information without waiving the ACP. In other words, the CID only protects communications between counsel, not between parties. Communications between parties are protected under the CID, however, if counsel is present during the communications. Continue reading ›
Be Careful Before Relying on the Common Interest Doctrine
The Legal Intelligencer
The Legal Intelligencer: Kang on M&As and Attorney-Client Privilege of Selling Corporations
In Edward Kang’s March 2016 civil litigation column in The Legal Intelligencer and the Pennsylvania Law Weekly, he writes on the issue of M&As and Attorney-Client Privilege of Selling Corporations.
Courts have long recognized that the attorney-client privilege extends to corporations, as in Upjohn v. United States, 449 U.S. 383 (1981). Because a corporation can act only through its agents, usually officers, a corporation’s attorney-client privilege generally applies to communications between the corporation’s authorized agents and counsel. As the U.S. Supreme Court explained in Upjohn, however, it is the corporation that holds the corporate attorney-client privilege, not individual officers.
The Legal Intelligencer’s Top Laterals/New Partners Supplement: Kang on Lateral Hiring and the Small, Boutique Law Firm
“Thinking about making a lateral move to a small, boutique law firm? Recruiting successful laterals is critical to any firm’s success, regardless of size, and firms consider many factors in making a lateral hire. But for a small, boutique firm, a lateral hire will have an immediate impact. While big law firms can hire in large numbers and count on the laws of attrition to weed out the good from the bad hires, it is critical that small, boutique firms make the right calls—for the sake of both the law firm and the lateral,” writes Edward Kang in an article on lateral hiring as part of The Legal Intelligencer’s Top Laterals/New Partners supplement.
In the feature, Edward addresses some of the considerations to keep in mind when comparing a small, boutique law firm to a big firm; the importance of understanding the business of law; and the need for an appropriate business plan. Learn more about what Kang Haggerty looks for in a lateral and what a lateral should consider from a jump to a new law firm…READ MORE
Lateral Hiring and the Small, Boutique Law Firm
The Legal Intelligencer
PA Law Weekly: Kang on CFAA and its impact on employer-employee litigation
PA Law Weekly: Kang on CFAA and its impact on employer-employee litigation
January 30, 2016
Throughout 2016, Edward Kang will be a regular contributor to the Pennsylvania Law Weekly and The Legal Intelligencer on civil litigation issues impacting attorneys throughout the state. This month he writes on the topic of the CFAA and its impact on employer-employee litigation.
CFAA: Its Impact on Employer-Employee Litigation
PA Law Weekly