This NY Times article reports that U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly of the Northern District of Illinois upheld a government order for Sidley Austin Brown & Wood to turn over a list of client names involved in tax shelters that the firm allegedly promoted, and then approved a request from the group of about 50 clients to stay the order pending an appeal. The I.R.S. and the Justice Department filed pleadings late last year demanding that the firm produce the names of more than 600 clients that the government suspects bought abusive tax shelters from 1996 through mid-October 2003. Although Sidley Austin has turned the names of clients who did not object, the group of 50 clients sued to prevent the disclosure on the grounds that their dealings with the law firm are subject to rules governing confidentiality between lawyers and their clients.
In the meantime, U.S. District Judge James B. Moran of the Northern District of Illinois denied a Jenkens & Gilchrist motion to dismiss a government lawsuit seeking to force it to turn over the names of hundreds of clients who bought certain tax shelters. In his decision, Judge Moran concluded that the names of the clients were not protected by attorney-client privilege.
Sidley Austin and Jenkens & Gilchrist are among the targets of the government’s tax shelter inquiry because the firms wrote opinions attesting to the legitimacy of shelters that the U.S. Justice Department contends were questionable or illegal.