This Note will begin by looking at the public policy rationale underlying the Supreme Court’s establishment, and Congress’s codification, of the work product doctrine. It will then look at the state of the work product doctrine before the First Circuit’s Textron decision. The Note will then discuss the Textron decision and how the First Circuit developed its new “for use in litigation” test. The Note will then examine the protection currently afforded to dual purpose documents in the areas of environmental law and insurance law. The analysis will argue that the Textron test will have broad ramifications beyond the context of tax accrual work papers, and it will discuss the negative consequences on environmental stress and insurance law if dual purpose documents are no longer shielded from discovery by the work product doctrine.
