Requests for the inspection of books and records pursuant to Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law is an important part of corporate litigation in Delaware. One important issue for these types of proceedings is the scope of documents that these types of requests can reach, particularly when it comes to privileged documents and other pre-discovery material. The following was published by This article provides a summary of recent Delaware decisions on the permissible scope of shareholder books and records demands pursuant to Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“Section 220”), including whether shareholders may use Section 220 to obtain pre-complaint discovery and/or privileged corporate documents. In short, there has been a significant uptick in Section 220 demand litigation in recent years and shareholders are frequently using Section 220 as an alternative method of obtaining discovery for ongoing or potential future fiduciary litigation. This article summarizes where shareholders have been permitted to proceed with such demands and where Delaware courts have drawn the line.