The Community-of-Interest Privilege
The ABA's Litigation News recently described an opinion from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania refusing to apply the community-of-interest privilege, and provided an overview of the history of the privilege and its application by various federal circuits and courts. The community-of-interest privilege (in the 3rd Circuit) allows attorneys "representing different clients with similar legal interests to share information without having to disclose it to others." In re Teleglobe Communc'ns Corp. , 493 F.3d 345, 364 (3d Cir. 2007). "Alleged members of the community of interest must at least share a 'substantially similar legal interest,' that is not solely commercial. Id. at 365. In King Drug Co. of Florence, Inc. v. Cephalon, Inc. , Plaintiffs in a putative class action alleging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act sought to compel discovery of certain communications between Defendant Barr Laboratories, Inc. (&q