Attorney-Client Privilege and Dead People

William R. Burford and Terence S. Nunan, both members of Rutter Hobbs & Davidoff Incorporated in Los Angeles, have recently published an article entitled Dead Man Talking: Is There Life After Death for the Attorney-Client Privilege?, Calif. Tr. & Est. Q., Summer 2005, at 17.

In the words of the authors:

This article contrasts the California and common law rules governing the posthumous application of the attorney-client privilege, identifies some of the ambiguities and uncertainties created by the “personal representative” rule adopted in Evidence Code §§ 953 and 954, and reviews various means for maintaining — or even reviving — the privilege after the death of a client.