Reading Room Document

The Attorney-Client Relationship in Department of Justice Representation of Individual Employees and Release of Information Obtained During that Representation Under the Freedom of Information Act

This opinion reviews whether, during the course of the Justice Department's representation of a federal employee in a lawsuit, the attorney-client privilege would conflict with either a government attorney's statutory duty to report violations of law, or the obligation to release information requested under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"). The opinion concludes that the statutory duty to report does not override attorney-client privilege, and that most confidential or "secret" client information would be exempt from disclosure under FOIA. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at https://justice.gov/olc/page/file/936111/download.

August 30, 1978