7(1)(m)

How the Public Access Counselor has treated 7(1)(m)

Section 7(1)(m) covers attorney-client communications, attorney work product and similar litigation-preparation and auditor materials. In these decisions public bodies invoked it for emails with counsel, forwarded legal correspondence, legal billing invoices, police and investigative records, questionnaires, and updates on legal matters.

The PAC applied the exemption narrowly and in most of these matters found improper withholding. It required the public body to prove with specifics that material was truly privileged or work product, and treated purely factual status updates, general billing information such as rates, time and descriptions, and client or attorney names as not exempt. Where records contained both exempt and non-exempt information, the PAC required disclosure of the non-exempt portions.

At a glance: 31 documents from 2012 to 2025(9 binding opinions, 22 determination letters). Most often cited alongside: 7(1)(f) (Preliminary drafts, notes, and deliberative materials) (15); 7(1)(c) (Personal privacy) (9); 7(1)(b) (Private information) (4); 7(1)(a) (Federal/State-law confidentiality — or public defender case files, for documents issued under the other amendment version) (3); 7(1)(n) (Employee grievance/discipline adjudication records) (2).

Recurring issues

• Whether legal billing invoices can be withheld in their entirety as attorney-client communications. (Invoices for legal services to a city, Legal invoices for attorney billing from a school district, Invoices and purchase orders for legal services)
• Whether purely factual status updates or factual portions of emails and police records qualify as privileged communications or work product. (Attorneys' emails with factual updates to clients, Police reports redacted for attorney-client privilege, Correspondence between a governor's office and a former agency director)
• Whether a public body meets its burden by generally asserting privilege without showing how the specific records are privileged. (Emails about an investigation into a school district's finances, Emails between a township and its legal counsel, Records identifying officers flagged under Brady/Giglio protocols)
• Whether forwarded attorney correspondence and attachments lose or retain protection when shared with board members or other officials. (Email attachments between school board members, Records of a payment to an alderman and a settlement agreement, A letter requesting a vote of no confidence)

Practical points

• Do not withhold legal invoices in full; disclose non-exempt billing rates, time spent, general descriptions and names unless specifically shown to be privileged.
• Provide record-specific justification for privilege rather than a blanket claim that emails with counsel are exempt.
• Treat factual updates, arrest-history answers and other factual content as presumptively disclosable even if contained in communications involving attorneys.

Summary drafted from the linked decisions and checked against them; read the decisions themselves before relying on it. Not legal advice.