Google routinely hides emails from litigation by CCing attorneys, DOJ alleges
The US Department of Justice and 14 state attorneys general yesterday (week ago) asked a federal judge to sanction Google for misusing attorney-client privilege to hide emails from litigation.
"In a program called 'Communicate with Care,' Google trains and directs employees to add an attorney, a privilege label, and a generic 'request' for counsel's advice to shield sensitive business communications, regardless of whether any legal advice is actually needed or sought. Often, knowing the game, the in-house counsel included in these Communicate-with-Care emails does not respond at all," the DOJ told the court. The fact that attorneys often don't reply to the emails "underscor[es] that these communications are not genuine requests for legal advice but rather an effort to hide potential evidence," the DOJ said.
The DOJ made its argument in a motion to sanction Google "and compel disclosure of documents unjustifiably claimed by Google as attorney-client privileged" and in a memorandum in support of the motion. "The Communicate-with-Care program had no purpose except to mislead anyone who might seek the documents in an investigation, discovery, or ensuing dispute," the DOJ alleged.
CCing lawyers is a common practice, but the DOJ says Google took it to an "egregious" level. "Google's institutionalized manufacturing of false privilege claims is egregious, spanning nearly a decade and permeating the company from the top executives on down," the DOJ said.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/google-routinely-hides-emails-from-litigation-by-ccing-attorneys-doj-alleges/
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