Internal-Investigation Emails between Non-Attorney Employees–Privileged?
If handled correctly, in-house counsel may delegate an internal investigation to a non-legal department. The question arises whether the 
attorney–client privilege applies to investigation-related emails between non-attorney employees. These type of emails often appear business-related and far removed from the company’s legal department.
In Crabtree v. Experian Info. Solutions, Inc., 2017 WL 4740662 (ND Ill. Oct. 20, 2017), the USDC for Illinois’ Northern District held that the corporate attorney–client privilege applies to emails between non-attorney employees so long as a lawyer has “some relationship to the communication” and the email would reveal the “substance of a confidential attorney–client communication.”
This case, available here, provides a short but good read on this tricky internal-investigation privilege issue.
In-House Counsel Delegates Internal Investigation
After receiving confidential information about one of its users, Experian’s in-house counsel asked its compliance division to conduct an internal investigation and report back to the legal department. The investigation included emails between non-attorney employees, and the plaintiff in a subsequent putative FCRA class action moved to compel these communications.Keep Reading this POP Post