Glossary
Work product
A doctrine that protects materials a lawyer prepares in anticipation of litigation: notes, mental impressions, theories: from disclosure to the other side. Different from attorney-client privilege but often overlapping.
The work-product doctrine recognizes that lawyers need a private space to think through a case. Their notes, draft strategies, and analyses of evidence aren't generally discoverable by the other side, even if they don't qualify as attorney-client privileged.
The protection isn't absolute. The other side can sometimes force disclosure of "fact work product" (the underlying factual material the lawyer compiled) by showing substantial need and inability to get the equivalent elsewhere. "Opinion work product": the lawyer's mental impressions and legal theories: is almost never discoverable.