The woes of Larry Sonsini and Hewlett-Packard Co. General Counsel Ann Baskins are growing. On Friday, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce revealed that it has asked both to testify at a Sept. 28 hearing entitled “Hewlett-Packard’s Pretexting Scandal.”
In most circumstances, lawyers can safely stand behind the attorney-client privilege and refuse to discuss client matters. But congressional committee investigations are a different, and more demanding, creature. “The House in theory does not recognize the attorney-client privilege,” said David Kendall, of Washington, D.C.’s Williams & Connolly, who had frequent contact with House committees when he represented the Clintons in Whitewater investigations.
