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WilmerHale And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Of Leaking Client Whistleblower Docs To The WSJ

The one simple thing you can do right now to avoid ending up like the lawyers in this story.

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Handing a drink to the SEC. (via Kendall and Kylie/YouTube)

Did you know that Pepsico’s former general counsel Maura Smith initiated an internal investigation into allegations of financial misreporting and that the SEC is looking into her subsequent departure as a possible violation of whistleblower laws? We didn’t either until yesterday, when the Wall Street Journal told the world about it after accidentally receiving a privileged memo from WilmerHale.

So if you know a Wilmer attorney, give ’em a hug today.

The memo, discussing a subpoena Smith received, was sent to the Wall Street Journal in an email including a number of other attorneys working on the matter. Given the circumstances, it’s safe to say someone’s inline autocomplete got the better of them. For any attorneys using a mailbox with that feature… maybe turn it off. On the plus side, as an efficiency aid, it saves you a few seconds every day. On the downside, one day it’ll send privileged and potentially career-ending documents to the press. Weigh those out and do whatever you think is best. Don’t worry, you can continue this story after you go into your mail preferences.

Welcome back. Wilmer’s statement, as reported by Law.com, falls appropriately upon the sword:

We deeply regret that privileged documents were inadvertently emailed to a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. WilmerHale takes full responsibility, and we apologize to our client. We promptly advised The Wall Street Journal of the error and asked the reporter to delete the material. The reporter told us he had deleted the material, but we later learned he had printed and retained hard copies.

We are disappointed that The Journal has decided to publish private information it knew was protected by our client’s legal privilege. We are taking additional measures designed to ensure that emails are not misaddressed to unintended recipients.

Is it just me, or does this measured professionalism come across as hopelessly archaic? Perhaps the real takeaway from all this for Wilmer should be the need for new public relations personnel. It’s 2017! A technological screw-up like this can’t be explained away with words like “inadvertently.” Here’s some free P.R. advice for Wilmer in case this comes up again:

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Saw the failing WSJ attacking Pepsico. People won’t fall for your #fakenews. Sad!

Today, Wilmer will begin picking up the pieces and mending fences with their client. No word yet on the professional fate of the lawyer who sent the privileged and embarrassing information to the Wall Street Journal, Thomas Cocacola.

Wilmer ‘Inadvertently’ Leaks Pepsi Client Secrets to Wall Street Journal [Law.com]
SEC Probes Departure of PepsiCo’s Former Top Lawyer [Wall Street Journal]

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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