Work-product doctrine

In American civil procedure, the work-product doctrine protects materials prepared in anticipation of litigation from discovery by opposing counsel. It is also known as the work-product rule, the work-product immunity, the work-product privilege, and the work-product exception. This doctrine does not apply in other countries, where such communications are not protected, but where the legal discovery process itself is much more limited.

Under the work-product doctrine, "tangible material or its intangible equivalent" that is collected or prepared in anticipation of litigation is not discoverable, That is, the party unable to obtain the information has no other means of obtaining the information without undue hardship. For example, the witness may have left the country. Where the required showing is made, the court will still protect mental impressions of an attorney by redacting that part of the document containing the mental impressions.

The work-product doctrine is more inclusive than attorney–client privilege. Unlike the attorney–client privilege, which includes only communications between an attorney and the client, work-product includes materials prepared by persons other than the attorney him/her self: The materials may have been prepared by anybody as long as they were prepared with an eye towards the realistic possibility of impending litigation. Additionally, it includes materials collected for the attorney such as interrogatories, signed statements, other information acquired for the prosecution or defense of a case. However, "memoranda, briefs, communications ... other writings prepared by counsel for his/her own use in prosecuting the client's case ... mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, or legal theories" are never discoverable by an opposing party.

However, the work-product doctrine is also less powerful than the attorney–client privilege, and therefore may be overcome by a showing of necessity, as described above.

The work-product doctrine originated in the 1947 case of Hickman v. Taylor, in which the Supreme Court affirmed a United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit decision which excluded from discovery of oral and written statements made by witnesses to a defendant's attorney. The Supreme Court, acting at the recommendation of the Advisory Committee of the Judicial Conference, later enshrined this doctrine formally in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as Rule 26(b)(3).

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