Rohm and Haas Co. v. Dow Chemical Co.
Delaware Chancery Court
2009 WL 445609 (2009)
The law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz represented Dow (defendant) in 2007-2008 on executive terminations and a takeover bid, then in mid-2008 represented Rohm and Haas (plaintiff) in merger negotiations directly against Dow, sending Dow its final bill around that time while Dow retained separate counsel for the merger talks. After merger-related litigation arose, Dow moved to disqualify the firm from conducting discovery and depositions against it, claiming it believed it remained a current client and that the firm had implicitly promised to withdraw from representing Rohm if litigation ever arose.
Whether a current attorney-client relationship exists with a former client absent a reasonable belief that the attorney continued to represent the client under the circumstances.