A new letter signed by 23 business groups, legal groups, and law firms, including the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, urges the Georgia Bar Association to reject a proposed change to the state’s legal ethics rules.

The proposed change would loosen the ethics rules around plaintiffs’ lawyers contacting former employees of a defendant in litigation. When adverse counsel directly contact former employees, the letter states, these employees “may feel pressure to cooperate” because they are unaware of the privileges granted parties in litigation or that the former employer may be willing to retain counsel on their behalf. This change also erodes a company’s attorney-client privilege and protected work product.

The full letter, which was submitted to the association’s Formal Advisory Opinion Board in December, can be viewed below.

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