Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE)Client ConfidentialityMedium
A lawyer is preparing for a trial and has gathered extensive factual information and legal theories. The lawyer's legal assistant creates a detailed summary of these findings, including the lawyer's mental impressions and conclusions about the case strategy. This summary is accidentally left on a shared network drive accessible to employees outside the legal department. What doctrine primarily protects this summary from discovery by the opposing counsel?
- ADuty of confidentiality
- BWork product doctrine
- CProfessional secrecy
- DAttorney-client privilege
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. Work product doctrine
The work product doctrine protects materials prepared in anticipation of litigation, especially those containing a lawyer's mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, or legal theories (opinion work product). The summary prepared by the legal assistant under the lawyer's direction, including strategic insights, falls squarely under this protection.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. The duty of confidentiality is an ethical rule, broader than privilege or work product, but 'work product doctrine' is the specific legal doctrine protecting these materials from discovery.
- C. Professional secrecy is a general term, not a specific legal doctrine like work product.
- D. Attorney-client privilege protects confidential communications between client and attorney for legal advice, not primarily attorney's strategic notes.
Opinion Work Product
The portion of the work product doctrine that provides heightened protection for materials containing the mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, or legal theories of an attorney or other representative concerning the litigation.
- Prepared in anticipation of litigation.
- Has near-absolute protection from discovery.
- Distinguished from 'fact work product'.
Memory trick: Strategy docs? Work Product wins.