One of the greatest frontier lawyers, Abraham Lincoln, once made the thought-provoking 
statement that, if asked to chop down a tree within six hours, he would spend the first four hours sharpening his axe. The future president’s message, of course, was that preparation—long, disciplined preparation—was essential to accomplishing a task. In-house lawyers should consider Lincoln’s adage when confronted with the task of maintaining privilege protection for Board reports and legal-advice portions of the Board’s meeting minutes.
In my Privilege Place column, published in Today’s General Counsel Magazine, I discuss the privilege preparation that in-house lawyers should consider when reporting to the company’s Board of Directors and advising on how to structure the meeting minutes. You may read my article as part of the entire issue at this link, or my specific article via this PDF.