United States v. BDO Seidman, LLP
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
492 F.3d 806 (2007)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (plaintiff) began investigating BDO Seidman, LLP (BDO) (defendant), a public-accounting and consulting firm, for suspected violations of the Internal Revenue Code. BDO and Jenkens & Gilchrist (Jenkens) shared common clients related to tax products. BDO sent a memorandum (the Kerekes memorandum) to its outside counsel seeking legal advice on a tax question. BDO also sent the Kerekes memorandum to Jenkens in order to finalize a legal position that the companies would share with their common clients. Specifically, the companies wished to ensure their compliance with a new IRS regulation. The IRS sought disclosure of the Kerekes memorandum. BDO asserted that the Kerekes memorandum was protected from disclosure under the common-interest doctrine. The district court ruled that the Kerekes memorandum was protected from disclosure. The IRS appealed, arguing that the purpose of BDO sharing the Kerekes memorandum was not to secure legal advice from Jenkens but to coordinate a message to the companies’ clients.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Ripple, J.)
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