All employees are required to take an annual online training course about how to communicate in a way to avoid legal issues with regulators. One part of the compliance course instructs employees to avoid estimating the company’s market share. In addition, Google employees often marked communication between employees as “A/C Priv,” which is shorthand for “attorney-client privilege,” in the subject line. While many companies take such measures to keep communications with lawyers confidential, Google is particularly aggressive, according to the current and former employees. Ms. Tarallo McAlister said Google informed employees “that privilege only applies to communications that seek legal advice or that are prepared at the direction of a lawyer.”

Source: New York Times October 13, 2020 17:13 UTC