Privilege log

A privilege log is a document that describes documents or other items withheld from production in a civil lawsuit under claims of attorney–client privilege, work product doctrine, or trade secrets.

The benefit of a privilege log to the legal practitioner is that it helps the practitioner keep track of privileges which they are asserting in response to discovery requests, the point in time that the privilege is asserted and documents the circumstances surrounding your communication of the privilege to the opposing party. Using the log helps the practitioner keep themselves honest by requiring them to put a finer point on their privilege assertions. The hoped for benefit is that the opposing party will not have an opportunity to come back later and seek sanctions and, that if they do the court will have documentation from which to decide in the practitioner's favor.

Generally, it is the withholding party's burden to provide sufficient information on its privilege log to allow the opposing party or court to test the claim of privilege.