Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

subject-matter test

A method of determining whether an employee's communication with a corporation's lawyer was made at the direction of the employee's supervisors and in the course and scope of the employee's employment, so as to be protected under the attorney-client privi- lege, despite the fact that the employee is not a member of the corporation's control group. Harper & Row Pubs., Inc. v. Decker, 423 F.2d 487 (7th Cir. 1970), affd per curiam by equally divided Court, 400 U.S. 348, 91 S.Ct. 479 (1971). - Also termed Decker test. Cf. CONTROLGROUP TEST.