The Burden Of Keeping In-House Secrets

In-house lawyers often are brought into a myriad of issues they may wish they had been left out of, points out Stephen R. Williams in a post on Above the Law.

He illustrates his point by describing a case he encountered in his role as in-house counsel with a multi-facility hospital network. An executive approached him and revealed that a well-known and well-liked employee was about to be fired.

“After asking a couple rather high-level and routine HR questions, I blessed the dismissal and took my leave only to bump into the employee in question a few steps down the hallway,” writes Williams. “While I was not bound by any form of attorney-client privilege at that point, I knew there was absolutely no way I could tell that employee they had better reconsider their summer vacation plans.”

He tells how he dealt with the situation during the next three weeks. He also discusses dealing with standard office gossip in an HR context.

Read the Above the Law article.