Notwithstanding Section 2018.040, when a lawyer is suspected of knowingly participating in a crime or fraud, there is no protection of work product under this chapter in any official investigation by a law enforcement agency or proceeding or action brought by a public prosecutor in the name of the people of the State of California if the services of the lawyer were sought or obtained to enable or aid anyone to commit or plan to commit a crime or fraud.
§ 2018.050.Participation in crime or fraud
Title 4. Civil Discovery Act · Chapter 4. Attorney Work Product · Enacted 2004 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 29, 2026
In one sentenceSection 2018.050 strips work product protection entirely, in any official law enforcement investigation or public prosecutor proceeding, when a lawyer's services were sought or obtained to enable or aid someone in committing or planning a crime or fraud and the lawyer is suspected of knowingly participating in it.
Full Text of § 2018.050
Plain-English Summary
Work product protection exists to let attorneys prepare legitimate cases candidly, not to shield a lawyer's own participation in ongoing wrongdoing, and this section carves out that limit. Despite the general restatement rule in Section 2018.040, when a lawyer is suspected of knowingly participating in a crime or fraud, there is no work product protection under this chapter in an official investigation by a law enforcement agency, or in a proceeding or action brought by a public prosecutor in the people's name.
The exception is narrow in its trigger: it applies only where the lawyer's services were sought or obtained to enable or aid someone to commit or plan to commit a crime or fraud. A lawyer who unknowingly represented a client engaged in wrongdoing is not the target here; the exception is aimed at the lawyer's own knowing participation, mirroring the crime-fraud exception long recognized for the closely related attorney-client privilege.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does work product protection disappear entirely under this section?
When a lawyer is suspected of knowingly participating in a crime or fraud, in an official law enforcement investigation or a public prosecutor's proceeding, where the lawyer's services were sought or obtained to enable or aid the crime or fraud.
Does this exception apply to a lawyer who was unknowingly used to further a client's fraud?
No, the exception targets a lawyer suspected of knowingly participating in the crime or fraud, not one who was an unwitting instrument of it.
Does this exception apply in ordinary civil discovery between private litigants?
No, it applies specifically to an official investigation by a law enforcement agency or a proceeding or action brought by a public prosecutor.
Amendment History
(Added by Stats.2004, c. 182 (A.B.3081), § 23, operative July 1, 2005.)
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the West's Annotated California Codes / Thomson Reuters. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 29, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: crime fraud exception work product californialawyer suspected of crime fraud discovery