Gabi Friedman joined a panel of national and international practitioners at the 25th Anniversary Annual Meeting of the Womens White Collar Defense Association to discuss the increasingly frequent phenomenon when one lawyer or law firm represents more than one client in a corporate or governmental investigation. 

Entitled “Navigating Pool Counsel and Joint Defense Agreements”, the panel explored the risks and advantages of the “pool counsel” structure in the US, Germany and the UK, with particular attention to how to set up the structure to best avoid conflict of legal interest among clients, and mitigate conflicts should they arise.    A lively discussion ensued to address the following issues, among others:

• Does pool counsel exist outside the United States?
• Can company counsel effectively and ethically represent individual witnesses?
• Should the engagement letter include an advance conflict waiver? And advance confidentiality waiver?
• What can happen if the investigating authority casts a skeptical eye on the multiple representation arrangement?
• What engagement letter provisions should counsel consider to protect themselves and their clients?

Co-panelists included Dr. Annette Rosskopf, Shula de Jersey, Pamela Johnston, Jana Volabte Walshak, and moderator Ilene Jaroslaw.