§ 2018.060.In camera hearings

Some disputes over work product, particularly ones touching on the crime-fraud exception, are best resolved by a judge examining the material privately before deciding whether it must be disclosed, and this section makes sure the work product chapter does not stand in the way of that tool. It states that nothing in the chapter is intended to limit an attorney's ability to request an in camera hearing as recognized by the California Supreme Court's decision in People v. Superior Court (Laff).

By preserving that avenue expressly, the section lets an attorney ask a court to review disputed material outside the presence of opposing counsel, a safeguard particularly useful when the very act of describing the material in open court risks disclosing the privileged content the attorney is trying to protect.