Wimsatt

I.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff and real party in interest Corey Kausch (Kausch) filed this legal malpractice case against defendants and petitioners Magaña, Cathcart & McCarthy and Attorney William H. Wimsatt concerning legal representation rendered in a personal injury lawsuit. 1 Among other allegations, Kausch alleged Magaña breached its fiduciary duty by submitting an unauthorized settlement demand to the opposing party. Kausch learned of this potentially unauthorized act from a “confidential mediation brief’ submitted to a mediator in the personal injury lawsuit.

Magaña seeks a writ of mandate compelling the trial court to vacate its order denying Magana’s application for a protective order and, instead, to enter an order that will protect “mediation-related” communications. Magaña *142 contends that the following items may not be disclosed: (1) all mediation briefs; (2) e-mails sent the day before the mediation that quoted from a mediation brief; and (3) a communication made by Wimsatt to the personal injury defendants purportedly lowering Kausch’s settlement demand. (Evid. Code, § 1115 et seq.)

In addressing these evidentiary issues, we examine the mediation…