Following up on our recent blog as part of a series about internal investigations, some privilege waiver concerns have rarely received much attention. Privilege waiver, however, moved to the front burner in part because of the Biden administration’s decision to move the focus back from Main Street to Wall Street. Whether talking about incoming PCAOB personnel, new SEC Commissioners, or leadership changes at the DOJ, the one constant is that ramped-up enforcement appears to be back with a vengeance.

This is also a bellwether for how vigorously the enforcers will start pushing for access to search term lists, key document lists, investigative work plans, memoranda of interview, and interview outlines.

Turning over such materials will not always trigger a blanket subject matter waiver or even waiver of work-product protection for the actual documents disclosed. That said, waiver arguments are notoriously challenging to predict. An avoidable misstep will, with the benefit of hindsight, deposit significant legal and reputational risk on the doorstep of the company and its counsel. It pays to think twice about what is turned over and to push back against risky requests, even amid contentions that everyone else is doing it.

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Photo of Jason Day Jason Day

Jason Day is the firmwide chair of the Corporate practice and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Jason serves as a trusted advisor to public companies on their most sensitive securities and corporate governance matters. He regularly counsels public company boards of…

Jason Day is the firmwide chair of the Corporate practice and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Jason serves as a trusted advisor to public companies on their most sensitive securities and corporate governance matters. He regularly counsels public company boards of directors and management on SEC disclosure obligations, fiduciary duties, internal investigations, proxy advisory firm standards and stockholder activism matters.

Jason has represented issuers and underwriters in dozens of capital markets offerings, including underwritten equity and debt offerings, initial public offerings, Rule 144A offerings and convertible note offerings, among others. He also counsels companies and their boards on public company change in control transactions, including mergers, tender offers, and SPAC transactions.

Photo of Markus Funk Markus Funk

Markus Funk, who from 2016 – 2021 served as the firmwide chair of the White Collar & Investigations practice, is a decorated former federal prosecutor in Chicago, and a former section chief with the U.S. State Department-Balkans. He earned a PhD (DPhil) in…

Markus Funk, who from 2016 – 2021 served as the firmwide chair of the White Collar & Investigations practice, is a decorated former federal prosecutor in Chicago, and a former section chief with the U.S. State Department-Balkans. He earned a PhD (DPhil) in law from Oxford University, where he started his career as a lecturer in law. In 2021, Chambers ranked him “Band 1” for Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations – Colorado and also included him in the rankings for FCPA – USA – Nationwide (a first for a lawyer based in Colorado/the Rocky Mountain Region).

In private practice since 2010, Markus focuses on internal investigations, complex commercial litigation both at the trial and appellate levels, white collar criminal defense, corporate social responsibility and supply chain compliance, and corporate counseling. He was selected to serve as a World Bank Group advisor and monitor to an Africa-based company seeking reinstatement following debarment, and he routinely counsels clients and conducts internal investigations and reviews throughout the world. During his time in public service, Markus and his team prosecuted “Operation Family Secrets,” which National Public Radio lauded as “one of the most important criminal investigations . . . in American history” (the 1995 movie “Casino” was based on the charged criminal activities). At the time of his departure from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Chicago Sun-Times described Markus as a “street-smart prosecutor with an Oxford pedigree.”

Markus also is the founding co-chair of Perkins Coie’s Supply Chain Compliance practice and in 2015 was tapped to head up the firm’s Africa Practice. The recipient of numerous awards, he was named Colorado’s “Best Overall Litigator” (2015); “Colorado White Collar Lawyer of the Year” (2015); one of “10 Best Attorneys for the State of Illinois” (2014) and “10 Best Attorneys for the State of Colorado” (2017); and “Lawyer of the Year” (2013). He co-founded the ABA’s Global Anti-Corruption Committee in 2010 and has chaired the section since then. He is also ranked “Band 1” by Chambers and Partners, who in their 2019 assessment quoted one of Markus’ clients, saying “his knowledge and experience base far surpasses any other attorney that we have worked with and he is always extremely thorough and proactive, enabling us to get well ahead of any situation at hand.”