1.    Attorney work product is exempt from section 44-04-18. Attorney work product and copies thereof shall not be open to public inspection, examination, or copying unless specifically made public by the public entity receiving such work product.

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2.    Attorney consultation is exempt from section 44-04-19. That portion of a meeting of a governing body during which an attorney consultation occurs may be closed by the governing body under section 44-04-19.2.

    3.    Active investigatory work product is exempt from section 44-04-18.

4.    “Adversarial administrative proceedings” include only those administrative proceedings in which the administrative agency or institution of higher education acts as a complainant, respondent, or decisionmaker in an adverse administrative proceeding. This term does not refer to those instances in which the administrative agency or institution acts in its own rulemaking capacity.

5.    “Attorney consultation” means any discussion between the members of a governing body and its attorney in instances in which the governing body seeks or receives the attorney’s advice regarding and in anticipation of reasonably predictable or pending civil or criminal litigation or adversarial administrative proceedings or to receive its attorney’s advice and guidance on the legal risks, strengths, and weaknesses of an action of a public entity which, if held in public, would have an adverse fiscal effect on the entity. All other discussions beyond the attorney’s advice and guidance must be made in the open, unless otherwise provided by law. All statements made by a participant or between participants during an executive session held for the purpose of attorney consultation are exempt if the statements relate to the subject for which attorney consultation was established. Mere presence or participation of an attorney at a meeting is not sufficient to constitute attorney consultation.

6.    “Attorney work product” means any document or record that:

a.    Was prepared by an attorney representing a public entity or prepared at such an attorney’s express direction; b.    Reflects a mental impression, conclusion, litigation strategy, or legal theory of that attorney or the entity; and

c.    Was prepared exclusively for civil or criminal litigation, for adversarial administrative proceedings, in anticipation of reasonably predictable civil or criminal litigation or adversarial administrative proceedings, or for guidance on the legal risks, strengths, and weaknesses of an action of a public entity.

7.    “Investigatory work product” means records obtained, compiled, or prepared by a public entity in an effort to monitor and enforce compliance with the law or an order.

Investigatory work product must be considered active as long as it is related to monitoring and enforcement activity conducted with a reasonable good-faith belief that it will lead to enforcement of the law or an order the public entity is charged by statute or other law with monitoring and enforcing.

8. Following the final completion of the civil or criminal litigation or the adversarial administrative proceeding, including the exhaustion of all appellate remedies, attorney work product must be made available for public disclosure by the public entity, unless another exception to section 44-04-18 applies or if disclosure would have an adverse fiscal effect on the conduct or settlement of other pending or reasonably predictable civil or criminal litigation or adversarial administrative proceedings, or the attorney work product reflects mental impressions, opinions, conclusions, or legal theories regarding potential liability of a public entity.

9.    A governing body may hold an executive session under section 44-04-19.2 to discuss negotiating strategy or provide negotiating instructions to its attorney or other negotiator regarding a pending claim, litigation, adversarial administrative proceedings, or contracts, which are currently being negotiated or for which negotiation is reasonably likely to occur in the immediate future. An executive session may be held under this subsection only when an open meeting would have an adverse fiscal effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public entity. A record revealing negotiation strategy or instruction under this section is exempt. Drafts of contracts or agreements subject to negotiations are exempt but only for so long as release would have an adverse fiscal effect on the public entity, unless the records are otherwise exempt or confidential.

10.    Nothing in this section may be construed to waive any attorney-client privilege of a public entity as defined in subdivision c of subsection 13 of section 44-04-17.1 regarding matters that do not pertain to public business.

    11.    A settlement agreement between a public entity and another party is exempt from disclosure until it has been fully executed and accepted by all concerned parties unless the records are otherwise exempt or confidential. In the case of multiple settlement agreements involving multiple parties involved in the same incident or undertaking, a settlement agreement is exempt until settlement agreements have been fully executed by all concerned parties unless the records are otherwise exempt or confidential.

12.    Unless subject to subsection 6 of section 44-04-18, active litigation records are exempt from section 44-04-18. For purposes of this subsection, “active litigation records” means records obtained, compiled, or prepared by a public entity or the attorney representing a public entity for the purpose of litigation unless the records already have been filed publicly or the litigation is completed.