Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2007

To provide appropriate protection to attorney-client privileged communications and attorney work product.

11/13/2007--Passed House amended. Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2007 - Amends the federal criminal code to prohibit any U.S. agent or attorney, in any federal investigation or criminal or civil enforcement matter, from demanding, requesting, or conditioning treatment ("giving cooperation credit") on the disclosure by an organization (or affiliated person) of any communication protected by the attorney-client privilege or any attorney work product. Prohibits a U.S. agent or attorney from conditioning a civil or criminal charging decision relating to an organization (or affiliated person) on one or more specified actions, or from using one or more such actions as a factor in determining whether an organization or affiliated person is cooperating with the government. Numbers among the actions a U.S. agent or attorney may not use as a charging decision condition or a cooperation-determining factor:
(1) any valid assertion of the attorney-client privilege or privilege for attorney work product;
(2) the provision of counsel to, or contribution to the legal defense fees or expenses of, an employee of the organization;
(3) entry into a joint-defense, information-sharing, or common-interest agreement with an employee of the organization if the organization determines it has a common interest in defending against the investigation or enforcement matter;
(4) the sharing of relevant information with an employee; or
(5) a failure to terminate an employee's employment, or otherwise sanction an employee, because of the employee's decision to exercise his or her constitutional rights or other legal protections in response to a government request. Prohibits a U.S. agent or attorney from demanding or requesting that an organization or an affiliated person not take any such action. Declares that this Act does not affect any other federal statute that may authorize, in the course of an examination or inspection, a U.S. agent or attorney to require or compel the production of attorney-client privileged material or attorney work product. Declares that the prohibition against conditioning a charging decision does not apply to charging an organization (or affiliated person) for certain conduct under a federal law which makes that conduct in itself an offense. Specifies as conduct which may under federal law constitute an offense, and so be exempted from this prohibition:
(1) the provision of counsel to, or contribution to the legal defense fees or expenses of, an employee of the organization;
(2) entry into a joint defense, information sharing, or common interest agreement with an employee of that organization if the organization determines it has a common interest in defending against the investigation or enforcement matter; and
(3) the sharing of information relevant to the investigation or enforcement matter with an employee of the organization.

... morehide bill summarySee Full Bill Text

Sponsor

• Rep. Robert Scott [D, VA-3]
• and 11 Co-Sponsors
  • Rep. Melissa Bean [D, IL-8]
  • Rep. Howard Coble [R, NC-6]
  • Rep. John Conyers [D, MI-14]
  • Rep. Artur Davis [D, AL-7]
  • Rep. William Delahunt [D, MA-10]
  • Rep. Tom Feeney [R, FL-24]
  • Rep. James Forbes [R, VA-4]
  • Rep. Daniel Lungren [R, CA-3]
  • Rep. Jerrold Nadler [D, NY-8]
  • Rep. Peter Roskam [R, IL-6]
  • Rep. Lamar Smith [R, TX-21]
  close

Committees

• House Judiciary
• 2 more
  • Senate Judiciary
  • House Judiciary
  close

Amendments

This bill has no amendments.

Amendments to H.R.3013

Number	Status	Purpose

Bill Status

Make a Bill Status Widget

	OpenCongress widgets allow you to display information about bills and issue areas on your own website or blog. First, select which bill or issue you want to track, then customize the appearance of the panel, and finally paste a simple chunk of HTML into your site. Now your community will have an easy, up-to-date way to track the status of important bills and issues in Congress.

Introduced		Voted on by House		Voted on by Senate		Considered By President		Bill Becomes Law
July 12, 2007		November 13, 2007

Show All Actions (14 actions)Hide Actions

All Bill Actions

• Nov 14, 2007: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
• Passed by voice vote in the House on Nov 13, 2007. On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.
• Nov 13, 2007: DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 3013.
• Nov 13, 2007: Considered under suspension of the rules.
• Nov 13, 2007: Mr. Scott (VA) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
• Added to calendar on Nov 13, 2007: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 276..
• Nov 13, 2007: Reported by the Committee on Judiciary. H. Rept. 110-445.
• Added to calendar on Aug 01, 2007: Ordered to be Reported by Voice Vote..
• Aug 01, 2007: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
• Jul 24, 2007: Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee by Voice Vote .
• Jul 24, 2007: Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
• Jul 20, 2007: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
• Jul 12, 2007: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
• Introduced on Jul 12, 2007.

---

Related Bills:

• S.186
• S.3217

Related Issue Areas:

• Public prosecutors
• Legal fees
• Law
• Indictments
• 8 more
• Government employees
• Government attorneys
• Federal employees
• Evidence (Law)
• Criminal investigation
• Attorney-client privilege
• Actions and defenses
• Criminal justice

Data from the Congressional Research Service

Show More User Statistics... Hide User Statistics

In the News

November 15, 2007 House Passes Bill Protecting Attorney-Client Privilege

HR 3013 would bar federal prosecutors and agents from demanding a waiver of the attorney-client privilege or using a waiver as a factor in determining ...

Was this article useful? Yes or No

Source: Helicopter Association International, VA

Did you find this article useful? Your opinion counts - together, we're finding the very best news and blog coverage about Congress available on the web.

November 13, 2007 ``Prosecutors Are Not above the Law

By voice vote under suspension of the rules, today the House overwhelmingly approved HR 3013, the "Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2007," which ...

Was this article useful? Yes or No

Source: Ad-Hoc-News (Pressemitteilung), Germany

Did you find this article useful? Your opinion counts - together, we're finding the very best news and blog coverage about Congress available on the web.

August 01, 2007 Legislative Update: Attorney-Client Privilege Bill

HR 3013 was approved on July 24 by the Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee. No amendments or changes to the bill are expected at today’s ...

Was this article useful? Yes or No

Source: Helicopter Association International, VA

Did you find this article useful? Your opinion counts - together, we're finding the very best news and blog coverage about Congress available on the web.

2 more articles...
See most useful news articles

Information made available by:

Blog Coverage

October 07, 2008 White Collar Crime 2008: Prosecutors & Regulators Speak

3217); Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act Of 2007 ( HR 3013); The Role Of Corporate Internal Investigations Claudius O. Sokenu; Report Of The Task Force On The Lawyer's Role In Corporate Governance Richard B. ...

Was this article useful? Yes or No

Source: PLI - On-Demand Web Programs

Did you find this article useful? Your opinion counts - together, we're finding the very best news and blog coverage about Congress available on the web.

September 14, 2008 New DOJ Guidelines for Corporate Prosecutions in Response to KPMG Case

3217 and HR 3013, the “Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act,” is urgently needed to permanently solve the problem of government-coerced waiver. The new Justice Department policy also does nothing to change the similar policies ...

Was this article useful? Yes or No

Source: The Plea Bargaining Blog

Did you find this article useful? Your opinion counts - together, we're finding the very best news and blog coverage about Congress available on the web.

September 07, 2008 McNulty, Filip and the Attorney-Client Communication Privilege

The case had increased support for the Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act (HR 3013), which passed the House and awaits action in the Senate. That legislation still should be enacted because a future administration could overturn ...

Was this article useful? Yes or No

Source: Environmental Crimes Blog

Did you find this article useful? Your opinion counts - together, we're finding the very best news and blog coverage about Congress available on the web.

39 more posts...
See most useful blog posts

Information made available by: