Rule 1-128.12.Privilege against disclosure for collaborative law communication; admissibility; discovery

This rule protects candor in the process with an evidentiary privilege. A party may refuse to disclose, and prevent others from disclosing, a collaborative law communication—though evidence that is otherwise admissible or discoverable does not become privileged just because it was used in the process. The privilege may be claimed by a party, a party’s guardian or conservator, a deceased party’s personal representative, or a nonparty participant (for that participant’s own communications).

The privilege is waived only if all parties expressly waive it in a record or during a proceeding; an unauthorized disclosure waives it only as far as needed for others to respond. There is no privilege for a communication that must be made public, is threatening or leads to violence, reveals an intent to commit a felony or inflict bodily harm, concerns whether a binding agreement was reached, or is in the signed agreement itself—and disclosing such excepted material does not make other communications discoverable.