Legal Ethics

[Stephanie R]

This is my topic for a very difficult homework assignment. Here goes:
You are a paralegal working at a firm specializing in construction matters. Many of the cases involve defending multi-million dollar lawsuits alleging improper architectural design of commercial buildings such as hotels, office buildings, and shopping malls. Your firm retains a variety of expert consultants as the cases require. Many of those consultants have rendered expert reports and had their depositions taken in cases on which you have worked. One day, another paralegal calls you because she needs prior reports and deposition transcripts for one of the expert consultants you firm has retained in the past; the attorney with whom she works will be deposing that same expert in a case he is pursuing which is totally unrelated to anything your firm is handling. There are no active cases on which this particular expert is working with your firm. May you send this paralegal a copy of the reports and transcipts? May you tell her the names of the cases or docket numbers in which the expert has rendered reports or given depositions???????????
Any applicable cases would also be helpful. I am in Arkansas, 8th District.

 

[LegalBeagle]

This is my topic for a very difficult homework assignment. Here goes:
You are a paralegal working at a firm specializing in construction matters. Many of the cases involve defending multi-million dollar lawsuits alleging improper architectural design of commercial buildings such as hotels, office buildings, and shopping malls. Your firm retains a variety of expert consultants as the cases require. Many of those consultants have rendered expert reports and had their depositions taken in cases on which you have worked. One day, another paralegal calls you because she needs prior reports and deposition transcripts for one of the expert consultants you firm has retained in the past; the attorney with whom she works will be deposing that same expert in a case he is pursuing which is totally unrelated to anything your firm is handling. There are no active cases on which this particular expert is working with your firm. May you send this paralegal a copy of the reports and transcipts? May you tell her the names of the cases or docket numbers in which the expert has rendered reports or given depositions???????????
Any applicable cases would also be helpful. I am in Arkansas, 8th District.

You would have to give them the details as there are only 2 expert witnesses in the whole of AR.



[Edited by LegalBeagle on 11-30-2000 at 07:26 AM]

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Stephanie, I think the reason you're not getting any responses is that we don't do homework assignments.

Our time is valuable, and so we like to save what little time we have for those persons who have actual, real life, problems.

IAAL

 

[HomeGuru]

The answer is no. Some of the information may be attorney client work product, protected by atorney-client priviledge and/or confidential information for your law firm employer only. If the attorney that the paralegal works for wants the info, he/she should ask the expert directly or through discovery or deposition. Then again why not just ask your Boss if you can do that.
If my paralegal did that without my permission she would be fired on the spot. Well actually only until after she finished drafting my commercial leases, Buy-Sell Agreement, purchase and sales contract, Civil complaints.......
Is this paralegal your friend or something and you want to be a hero and share some inside information?.