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Delaware Joins Trend of Eroding Attorney-Client Privilege Protection of Investigation Materials

Client Alert | 1 min read | 08.13.14

In a decision with potentially far-reaching ramifications for companies conducting internal investigations, the Delaware Supreme Court in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Indiana Elec. Workers Pension Trust Fund IBEW (July 23, 2014) ordered Wal-Mart to hand over attorney-client privileged documents describing how it set up its investigation into Mexican bribery allegations. The Delaware Supreme Court held that, under the Garner exception, which allows stockholders to invade a corporation’s attorney-client privilege to prove a fiduciary breach by those in control of the corporation upon showing of good cause, Wal-Mart was required to comply with the stockholders’ request for information relating to the investigation, the potential of a cover-up, and the reports provided to the board of directors.

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Client Alert | 7 min read | 05.27.26

Colorado Hits Reset on AI Regulation: SB 26-189 Repeals and Reenacts the Colorado AI Act

Colorado’s original AI Act (SB 24-205), signed in May 2024, imposed broad obligations on developers and deployers of “high-risk AI systems” — including requiring risk management programs, impact assessments, and affirmative steps to prevent algorithmic discrimination across employment, housing, lending, insurance, health care, and education decisions. The operative date for SB 24-205 was extended twice, and a court temporarily suspended enforcement in early 2026, following a lawsuit filed by xAI, which the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) intervened to support. Industry feedback on SB 24-205 was generally negative. In response to this environment, Colorado’s legislature undertook a rewrite, drafting and passing SB 26-189 in a matter of weeks. SB 26-189 reflects the legislature’s effort to preserve the policy goal of filling the AI oversight vacuum given the lack of a comprehensive federal law, but within a more workable compliance framework....

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