D.C. Circuit Confirms Broad Applicability of Attorney-Client Privilege to Internal Corporate Investigations

On June 27, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit confirmed the broad applicability of the attorney-client privilege in the context of internal corporate investigations. A three-judge panel granted a petition for a writ of mandamus filed by Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. (“KBR”), vacating the district court’s order in a qui tam action compelling production of documents related to a prior internal investigation. The panel unanimously held that the attorney-client privilege protects confidential communications made by KBR employees during an internal investigation led by in-house counsel. In so holding, the D.C. Circuit clarified the scope of the attorney-client privilege as applied to internal corporate investigations. Under the court’s articulated standard, records of internal investigations led by in-house counsel are privileged so long as one of the investigation’s significant purposes was obtaining or providing legal advice, even where there are additional purposes for the investigation, or where the investigation is required by corporate policy or regulatory law.