Flowers Keller partner Kobie Flowers co‑authored an amicus brief for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) in In re Meta Platforms, Inc. and Instagram, LLC, No. 26‑OA‑0001, now pending before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. The brief urges the court to grant Meta’s petition for a writ of mandamus and to reject an expansive application of the crime‑fraud exception to attorney‑client privilege.
In the case, the D.C. Superior Court held that certain internal communications between Meta and its counsel were not protected by privilege and work product because of the crime‑fraud exception. NACDL’s brief explains that, whatever one thinks of the underlying civil litigation against Meta, broadening the crime‑fraud exception in this way threatens core constitutional protections. Attorney‑client privilege and the work‑product doctrine exist so that clients can speak candidly with their lawyers and receive clear advice about how to manage legal risk—including what they should not say, write, or do when the stakes are highest.
The brief emphasizes that these protections do not turn on who the client is. Whether the client is an individual facing indictment or a powerful technology company in high‑profile litigation, the attorney‑client privilege and work‑product doctrine are structural safeguards that make the adversarial system work. If courts allow privileged legal advice about mitigating exposure to be recast as “crime‑fraud,” clients will hesitate to be honest with their lawyers—and criminal defense attorneys will be less able to fight abuses of power when liberty is on the line.
For Flowers Keller—a firm of former public defenders committed to defending the accused, vindicating the convicted, and changing the system—this amicus work reflects the firm’s mission. By helping NACDL safeguard the attorney‑client privilege and work‑product doctrine, Flowers Keller works to ensure that everyone, not just powerful clients, can rely on confidential counsel when it matters most.