| Perella Weinberg Partners LLC v Kramer |
| 2019 NY Slip Op 04896 [173 AD3d 555] |
| June 18, 2019 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| Perella Weinberg Partners LLC et al.,
Appellants, v Michael A. Kramer et al., Defendants. Cody Leung Kaldenberg et al., Nonparty Respondents. (And a Third-Party Action.) |
Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, New York (Jonathan D. Schiller of counsel), for appellants.
Arkin Solbakken LLP, New York (Lisa C. Solbakken of counsel), for respondents.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (O. Peter Sherwood, J.), entered July 23, 2018, which, after in camera review, determined that certain emails were protected by the attorney-client privilege, unanimously affirmed, with costs.
Nonparty respondents were seeking legal advice through third parties and had a reasonable expectation that their communications would remain confidential, as the communications set forth specific legal questions (see Spectrum Sys. Intl. Corp. v Chemical Bank, 78 NY2d 371, 377-378 [1991]; People v Osorio, 75 NY2d 80, 84 [1989]). That neither nonparty respondent had a retainer agreement is of no moment because, so long as the communications are for the purpose of rendering legal advice, the privilege applies even in the absence of a retainer agreement (see Spectrum Sys. Intl. Corp. at 378-379; Seyler v T-Systems N. Am., Inc., 771 F Supp 2d 284, 287 [SD NY 2011]). Concur—Gische, J.P., Webber, Kahn, Kern, JJ.