The attorney-client privilege protects private communications between a client and a lawyer. This sensible rule promotes a full and frank discussion so that the client can get the best advice without the interference of prying eyes and ears. It assumes the communications are strictly private – not in the presence of anyone other than the client and lawyer. It also assumes no disclosures to third parties that would waive the privilege – by the client or the lawyer. Here’s an example to illustrate the point: Let’s say that early in my career handling plaintiffs’ medical malpractice claims, a client drove his car through a hospital’s glass front. The fact of the accident is not attorney-client privileged. I could write about the fact that my client was found in his car, half in and half out of the hospital window, without violating my ethical duty to the client. However, my private discussions with my client (before and after) would be privileged, and I couldn’t share them on my blog.

Work-product privilege protects our thoughts, impressions, and strategies in the case—as long as they are not shared in public or with any unauthorized third party (authorized third parties, for instance, would be the many vendors used to help work the case, and the privilege binds them). Staying with our example, my thoughts and opinions about my client ending up in his car half in and half out of the hospital plate glass window would be privileged unless and until I made those thoughts or opinions public as part of my client’s case. Included is any discussion of how or why my client told me he was found in his car, half in and half out of the hospital.

Generally speaking (and hypotheticals aside), my job is to pursue civil remedies to obtain justice for my clients. The most effective way to do this is to take steps toward a jury trial. The right to a jury trial is the foundation of every settlement and verdict obtained. The Seventh Amendment to our Constitution is dishonored whenever the right to a jury trial is impaired or legislated out of existence.

The Seventh Amendment right to jury trial comes from the Magna Carta – the King’s deal to avoid violence with his subjects by guaranteeing certain rights, including the right to jury trial. Causing violence to property and persons is always counterproductive to pursuing a jury trial. But that assumes the existence of a meaningful right to a jury trial, as guaranteed by our natural rights under the Constitution.

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Given recent events, I am going to work on that.

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The truth is the light and the light is the truth.

Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

In his groundbreaking 1952 book “Invisible Man,” Ralph Ellison introduces an unnamed African American narrator who relates his story from a basement-dwelling lit with 1,369 light bulbs. This room filled with light represents the man’s choice to see his life more clearly and to seek truth through enlightenment. Although “Invisible Man” was Ellison’s only novel published in his lifetime, more manuscripts were discovered in the award-winning author’s home after he died in 1994. This discovery resulted in the posthumous publication of a second novel, 1999’s “Juneteenth.” Even today, Ellison’s work continues to point us toward finding our truth from a place of quietly defiant illumination.

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Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.

Henry David Thoreau

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True peace is not merely the absence of tension – It is also the presence of justice.

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Soniferous

Part of speech: adjective

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Part of speech: adjective

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“A daughter of the American southwest, Sandra Day O’Connor blazed a historic trail as our nation’s first female justice,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement Friday. “She met that challenge with undaunted determination, indisputable ability, and engaging candor. We at the Supreme Court mourn the loss of a beloved colleague, a fiercely independent defender of the rule of law, and an eloquent advocate for civics education.”

Read more at: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/945241?nl_pk=029cff45-637f-44e3-babf-75563f8e0bfd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=personal-injury-medical-malpractice&utm_content=945241&read_main=1&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=0?copied=1

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