About the Course
Introduction
This CLE webinar will discuss the boundaries of the litigation privilege and attorney immunity, which are defenses to retaliatory civil actions and ethical complaints filed against attorneys and party opponents. The panel will review recent decisions and survey evidentiary and procedural issues that arise in these cases. As part of their analysis, the panel will review what tactics are ethically out of bounds under Model Rule of Professional Responsibility 4.1 that deals with Truthfulness in Statements to Others.
Description
Attorneys, usually litigators, are more frequently being sued for things like defamation, bad faith, intentional interference with contractual or beneficial relations, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud, etc., for the way they manage, leverage, and disclose embarrassing secrets, arguably illegal activity, or bad acts of the opposing party or even their lawyers.
Whether these types of activities are absolutely privileged and only entitled to partial immunity depends on when and where the statements are made and how state courts define "litigation."
Regardless of civil liability, such conduct can lead to ethics complaints. Model Ruel 4.1 attempts to set some boundaries, but it offers no bright line rule. Grippa v. Rubin, 133 F.4th 1186 (2025), Bouazza v. Geico Gen. Ins. Co., Case No. AC 46494 (Conn. Jan. 21, 2025), Landry’s Inc., et al. v. Animal Legal Defense Fund (Tex., No. 19-0036, June 15, 2021), and Dorfman v. Smith, 342 Conn 582 (2022), offer insights and some illustrations of the risks lawyers face if they utilize these tactics.
Listen as our experienced panel of litigators assists counsel in understanding the judicial proceedings privilege and attorney immunity and the limits of MR 4.1.
Presented By
Mr. Muñoz is a Partner and Office Co-Chair of Freeman Mathis & Gary, LLP's Sacramento office. He is a civil trial attorney and third-party neutral with over 25 years of experience defending attorneys, and other professionals such as architects and engineers, real estate agents/brokers, real estate appraisers, and insurance brokers, as well as defending personal injury, toxic torts, products liability, defamation, wrongful termination/harassment, wage and hour and discrimination claims. Mr. Muñoz is a certified specialist in Legal Malpractice Law by the California State Board of Specialization and is a former member of the California State Bar Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (“COPRAC”) where the Committee interprets and issues opinions regarding legal ethics and the California Rules of Professional Conduct. He also serves as an arbitrator for the State Bar’s Mandatory Fee Arbitration program. Mr. Muñoz previously served as the Chair for the Legal Malpractice Law Advisory Commission for the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization responsible for preparing and grading the legal malpractice legal specialization examination as well as assessing the qualifications of potential applicants seeking the legal malpractice law specialization designation and recertification. He has presented locally and nationally on issues of legal malpractice, conflicts of interests and legal ethics and started a quarterly column in the Association of Defense Counsel for Northern California and Nevada’s Defense Comment entitled “The Lawyer’s Lawyer” addressing issues of legal malpractice avoidance and legal ethics. Mr. Muñoz acts as an expert witness on ethical issues and standard of care issues in legal malpractice and attorney-client fee disputes.
Mr. Chopan is a member of the Firm’s Professional Liability/E&O and Tort & Catastrophic Liability practice sections. His practice is focused on defending individuals, businesses, property owners, and institutional clients in complex civil litigation matters. Mr. Chopan represents clients in matters involving personal injury, premises liability, transportation, complex torts, professional liability, and legal malpractice defense. He manages matters through all phases of litigation, including written discovery, records analysis, depositions, motion practice, mediation strategy, and trial preparation. Mr. Chopan has experience handling demurrers, motions to strike, discovery motions, and dispositive motions, and he recently obtained a dismissal under California’s five-year statute. He earned his J.D. from Lincoln Law School of Sacramento and his B.A. in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Mr. Chopan is admitted in California and before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, is a member of the Sacramento Area Muslim Bar Association, California Lawyers Association, Sacramento Bar Association, and speaks Farsi.
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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An excellent opportunity to earn Ethics CLE credits. Note: BARBRI cannot guarantee that this course will be approved for ethics credits in all states. To confirm, please contact our CLE department at pdservice@barbri.com.
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Date + Time
- event
Thursday, October 29, 2026
- schedule
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
I. Introduction and overview of recent cases; Model Rule 4.1
II. Origins and history of the litigation privilege
A. Nexus between communication and proceedings
B. Qualified vs. absolute privileges
C. Exceptions, malice, and cross-jurisdictional issues
III. Applying privilege outside of litigation
A. Pre-suit
B. Post-suit
C. Non-litigation situations
IV. Bar complaints and malpractice
The panel will discuss these and other key issues:
- Does Model Rule 4.1 apply when an attorney is a party to litigation?
- To what degree are intentionality and good faith factors when considering questions of litigation privilege or attorney immunity?
- Do the privilege and immunity apply to transactions or only to judicial proceedings?
- What law applies?
Related Courses
Litigation Privilege, Attorney Immunity, and Ethics: Defending Retaliatory Suits and Ethics Complaints
Thursday, October 29, 2026
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
