that Google teaches employees to request advice from counsel around sensitive business communications, thereby shielding documents from discovery in legal situations.
Once counsel is involved, the company can treat the documents as protected under attorney-client privilege."Google has explicitly and repeatedly instructed its employees to shield important business communications from discovery by using false requests for legal advice," DOJ attorneys wrote in the brief, asking U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta to sanction Google and compel the disclosure of more documents.
After DOJ prodding, "Google’s outside counsel eventually deprivileged tens of thousands of documents initially withheld or redacted on the basis of privilege. These efforts, however, do not — and cannot — cure the misconduct inherent in Google’s efforts to hide relevant communications. Indeed, many more challenged documents remain outstanding.
In one example, DOJ lawyers cite Google parent company Alphabet's CEO Sundar Pichai copying Google chief legal officer Kent Walker on an email to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki about how to respond to a press inquiry, with "Attorney Client Privileged" at the top.
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