• For the privilege to apply, the communication must generally satisfy two requirements: The in-house counsel must have been acting in the role of an attorney. The attorney-client privilege protects confidential communications made during an attorney client relationship from disclosure.This is a long-standing legal principle known as attorney-client privilege, which means that communication between attorneys and clients is confidential. In the In-House Counsel context, the "client" is the company. The company, not its owners, is the holder (controls) of the attorney-client privilege. Attorneyclient privilege is a legal concept that ensures communications between a client and their lawyer are confidential and protected from disclosure. The first step in protecting attorneyclient privilege is knowing which of your communications and documents are privileged and which aren't. No summary can be complete, and the following is not intended to constitute legal advice as to any specific case or factual circumstance. Putting a lawyer in the "cc" field of an email to nonlawyers also meant the email was not privileged for the same reason. When you seek the lawyer's assistance in carrying out or planning a crime or a fraud.