Opinion ID: 511548
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Attorney Work Product Immunity

Text: 27 The SEC also asserted attorney work product immunity in the District Court to all eight deposition questions. The SEC maintains its response would require testimony from Commission attorneys on mental impressions of witness interviews conducted in connection with the insider trading investigation. Sturc Declaration, App. 82, 85. The Commission claims that recollections of the interviews, which were made in anticipation of litigation, are protected attorney work product. See Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(3). 28 The Commission's position is correct. The work product doctrine reflects the strong public policy against invading the privacy of an attorney's course of preparation. Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 510, 67 S.Ct. 385, 393, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947). In Hickman, the Supreme Court held that work product immunity extended to oral statements made by witnesses to attorneys whether presently in the form of mental impressions or memoranda. Id. at 512, 67 S.Ct. at 394; see also Upjohn v. United States, 449 U.S. 383, 399-401, 101 S.Ct. 677, 687-88, 66 L.Ed.2d 584 (1981). The SEC properly has asserted attorney work product immunity. 29 However, the attorney work product doctrine, like the law enforcement investigatory privilege, is a qualified immunity. It is designed to balance the needs of the adversary system to promote an attorney's preparation against society's general interest in revealing all facts relevant to the resolution of a dispute. In re Subpoenas Duces Tecum, 738 F.2d 1367, 1371 (D.C.Cir.1984). The Commission's responses can be required if appellant makes out a sufficient showing of necessity for the information and its unavailability by other means. Upjohn, 449 U.S. at 400-02, 101 S.Ct. at 688-89. As the work product sought here is based on oral statements from witnesses, a far stronger showing is required than the substantial need and without undue hardship standard applicable to discovery of work-product protected documents and other tangible things. Id. at 401-02, 101 S.Ct. 687-88; Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(3); see also Byers v. Burleson, 100 F.R.D. 436, 439 (D.D.C.1983) (precise contours of stronger showing not yet resolved). 30 The District Court's order does not indicate that appellant's need for the SEC testimony was weighed against the SEC's interest in protecting its attorneys' work product. Therefore, the case must be remanded for consideration of the competing interests. 31 Accordingly, the District Court's grant of the Department of Justice's motions to intervene and to file an ex parte affidavit under seal is affirmed. The District Court's denial of appellant's motion to compel is reversed and the motion is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.