Also known as: prepares · prepared · preparing
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
4 senses
Creation of documents and tangible things by or for a party or its representative in anticipation of litigation or for trial. Such materials receive work-product protection from discovery unless the requesting party shows substantial need and undue hardship in obtaining their substantial equivalent by other means.
Creation of documents and tangible things by or for a party or its representative in anticipation of litigation or for trial. Such materials receive work-product protection from discovery unless the requesting party shows substantial need and undue hardship in obtaining their substantial equivalent by other means.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Preparation by a lawyer on behalf of a client of an instrument giving the lawyer or a related person any substantial gift. Such preparation is prohibited unless the recipient is related to the client within defined familial or close-relationship categories.
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Retention by a government attorney of recordings, reporter's notes, and any transcript prepared from grand-jury proceedings. The attorney retains control unless the court orders otherwise.
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Preparation by a voting-trust trustee of a list of beneficial owners together with share counts and classes, followed by delivery of copies to the corporation at its principal office.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Preparation by a lawyer on behalf of a client of an instrument giving the lawyer or a related person any substantial gift. Such preparation is prohibited unless the recipient is related to the client within defined familial or close-relationship categories.
Retention by a government attorney of recordings, reporter's notes, and any transcript prepared from grand-jury proceedings. The attorney retains control unless the court orders otherwise.
Preparation by a voting-trust trustee of a list of beneficial owners together with share counts and classes, followed by delivery of copies to the corporation at its principal office.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
After a workplace accident, Phoenix Technologies directed its in-house counsel to interview employees and compile a report. When the injured worker later sued, the plaintiff sought the report in discovery. The court denied the request because the materials were created at the direction of counsel in anticipation of litigation and the plaintiff could not demonstrate substantial need or undue hardship.
Prime Logistics retained an outside safety consultant to evaluate a loading dock after a customer injury. The consultant's findings were never shared with opposing counsel. In subsequent litigation the customer moved to compel production, but the court upheld work-product protection because the report constituted tangible material prepared in anticipation of litigation.
Prosperity Investments faced a securities investigation. Corporate counsel interviewed mid-level analysts at the direction of senior management and prepared memoranda summarizing their statements. When regulators later sought the memoranda, the court held that the materials were protected work product because they were prepared in anticipation of litigation.
The requesting party must demonstrate that the materials are otherwise discoverable and that it has substantial need for them to prepare its case and cannot obtain their substantial equivalent without undue hardship.
Supporting sources
No. Protection extends to materials prepared by or for a party or its representative, including consultants, insurers, and agents, so long as they were created in anticipation of litigation.
Supporting sources
Attorney Pamela Phillips drafted a new will for her elderly client that left the lawyer a substantial bequest. The client had no familial relationship with Phillips. The drafting violated professional conduct rules because the lawyer prepared an instrument giving herself a substantial gift from a non-relative client.
A lawyer may prepare such an instrument only when the lawyer or other recipient is related to the client within the defined familial or close relationship categories.
Supporting sources
After a grand jury returned an indictment, the prosecutor retained control of the court reporter's transcript. Defense counsel moved for immediate production of the recording. The court ruled that the government attorney properly retained the transcript prepared from the grand jury proceedings.
Several shareholders of Precision Tools signed a voting trust agreement and transferred their shares to the trustee. The trustee immediately prepared a list of beneficial owners with share counts and classes and delivered copies to the corporation's principal office as required by the governing statute.
…certainly remember the names in commissions but believed Marbury's and Hooe's commissions were made out and Ramsay's was not; he prepared the list of names by which the clerk filled up commissions and believed Ramsay's name was omitted by mistake. He believed none of the commissions for justices of the peace signed by Mr.…