Jackson Walker’s Romance Lawyers Must Comply With Discovery

Attorneys who advised Jackson Walker LLP about how to navigate the romance between one of its attorneys and a bankruptcy judge must comply with a Justice Department subpoena, a judge ruled.

The Texas law firm forfeited attorney-client privilege with its advisers at Holland & Knight LLP because it disclosed documents to a third party, Judge Amy M. Baggio of the US District Court for the District of Oregon ruled Nov. 27.

Jackson Walker disclosed to an attorney for Elizabeth Freeman, a onetime partner with the firm who was in a once-secret relationship with former bankruptcy judge David R. Jones, memos it had received from Holland & Knight about the romance.

“The Court agrees that the attorney-client privilege is sacred; however, Jackson Walker has continuously failed to honor and protect the privilege throughout its handling of the Freeman-Jones debacle,” Baggio wrote.

The DOJ’s calls for discovery come as its bankruptcy watchdog unit works to disgorge millions of dollars in fees Jackson Walker collected while failing to disclose the relationship.

Now, Holland & Knight attorney Jacqueline Harvey and former firm attorney Peter Jarvis have 21 days from the order to comply with a Justice Department request for documents related to Jackson Walker’s engagement of the firm for advice about how to handle the Jones-Freeman relationship.

Jackson Walker argued that it had waived attorney-client privilege only for the documents it explicitly shared with Freeman’s attorney, Tom Kirkendall, but Baggio found a much broader forfeit of the privilege. Under a widely applied standard, a waiver created by disclosure of a document is extended to other documents related to that subject, she found.

“The waiver extends beyond the document initially produced out of concerns for fairness, so that a party is prevented from disclosing communications that support its position while simultaneously concealing communications that do not,” Baggio wrote.

Jackson Walker controlled the advice memos but chose to disclose them to Kirkendall, Baggio said.

“Jackson Walker has waived privilege repeatedly and brazenly,” she wrote.

Jarvis is now retired. Harvey didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jackson Walker is represented by Black Helterline LLP and Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.

The case is In re Professional Fee Matters Concerning the Jackson Walker Law Firm, D. Or., No. 3:24-mc-00894-AB, 11/27/24.