Professional Testimonial Privileges

Attorneys, accountants, and journalists play an important role as gatekeepers and monitors against wrongdoing in promoting corporate compliance with the law. These three professional groups assert that the testimonial privilege is crucial for the efficient performance of their role.

Ido Baum explores the professional testimonial privileges of attorneys, accountants, and journalists in the United States, England, and Germany. He shows that the jurisdictions of these countries represent starkly different approaches to civil procedure, to corporate ownership and control, and to issues like the conflict between the interests of freedom of speech and reputation. The author provides new insights into the effects of the corporate lawyer-client privilege on corporate decision making. He also discusses the implications of global convergence in accounting standards on lawyer-accountant multi-disciplinary practices. Finally, he presents the first model-based efficiency comparison of the American and English rules regarding the revelation of confidential media sources.