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Hewes v. Langston9/11/2003
ns, and upon a far stronger showing than for other work product documents. Id. Langston has failed to meet that burden here. Thus, Item 2 is not discoverable, and the trial court erred in determining otherwise.
Item 25: A legal research memo to Hewes
. Item 25 is a legal research memo, dated February 20, 1998, prepared by a Brunini law firm associate for Hewes. Hewes correctly argues that research undertaken by an attorney to respond to a client's request falls within the purview of the attorney-client privilege. See Nguyen v. Excel Corp., 197 F.3d 200, 206 (5th Cir. 1999). As such, the trial court erred in determining that Item 25 was discoverable.
Items 47-68 (excepting Items 51 and 54): Itemized billing records and corresponding DayTimer entries
. Langston sought production of all itemized bills reflecting services Hewes rendered to B&W;in the course of the Butler case, over nearly a three-year period, along with his DayTimer entries from which the bills were created. The trial court ordered all but two of the itemized bills produced. Hewes points out that the court gave no explanation or reason in making that determination. In fact, Hewes contends that the two excepted Items, 51 and 54, are identical in type to Items which the court ordered produced. Further, Hewes claims he has already redacted and produced all references in the billing records to communications with Miller and has testified at length regarding those meetings.
. Although this Court has not dealt with this specific issue, courts in other jurisdictions have. In Clarke v. American Commerce Nat'l Bank, 974 F.2d 127 (9th Cir. 1992), the Ninth Circuit discussed the criteria it uses in determining whether billing records are discoverable:
the identity of the client, the amount of the fee, the identification of payment by case file name, and the general purpose of the work performed are usually not protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege. However, correspondence, bills, ledgers, statements, and time records which also reveal the motive of the client in seeking representation, litigation strategy, or the specific nature of the services provided, such as researching particular areas of law, fall within the privilege.
Id. at 129 (citations omitted & emphasis added). See also Chaudhry v. Gallerizzo, 174 F.3d 394, 403 (4th Cir. 1999) (holding that billing records which identified specific statutes being researched were privileged). While a simple invoice ordinarily is not privileged, itemized legal bills necessarily reveal confidential information and thus fall within the privilege. As one court explained:
billing records describing the services performed for his clients and the time spent on those services, and any other attorney-client correspondence relating to the performance of legal services and the rates therefor . . . may reveal the client's motivation for seeking legal representation, the nature of the services provided or contemplated, strategies to be employed in the event of litigation, and other confidential information exchanged during the course of the representation.
In re Horn, 976 F.2d 1314, 1317-18 (9th Cir. 1992).
. Hewes argues that the billing statements, along with their DayTimer entries at issue, describe the identities of parties to conversations and correspondence, and the dates and subject matter of legal research performed by Hewes for his client over a period of nearly three years. After reviewing of the billing statements and DayTimer entries, we agree. The documents at issue do not merely indicate the client's name, the amount of payment, and the general nature o
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