For example, individuals who operate a corporation retain attorney/client privilege while the attorney/client relationship between the corporate entity and an attorney has no where near the same degree of protection.
The few gray areas that exist are very small and in fact most have equivalents in law as it relates to individuals in some circumstances.
" In the words of Chief Justice Marshall, a corporation is "an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law." Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 4 Wheat. 518, 636 (1819). As such, it is not entitled to "`purely personal' guarantees" whose "`historic function' . . . has been limited to the protection of individuals." First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765, 779 , n. 14 (1978). Thus, a corporation has no Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, Wilson v. United States, 221 U.S. 361 (1911), or right to privacy, United States v. Morton Salt Co., 338 U.S. 632 (1950). On the other hand, a corporation has a First Amendment right to freedom of speech, Virginia Pharmacy Bd. v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U.S. 748 (1976), and cannot have its property taken without just compensation, Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104 (1978). A corporation is also protected from unreasonable searches and seizures, Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U.S. 307 (1978), and can plead former jeopardy as a bar to a prosecution, United States v. Martin Linen Supply Co., 430 U.S. 564 (1977). Furthermore, a corporation is entitled to due process, Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia v. Hall, 466 U.S. 408 (1984), and equal protection, Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Ward, 470 U.S. 869 (1985), of law. Whether a particular constitutional guarantee applies to corporations "depends on the nature, history, and purpose" of the guarantee. First National Bank of Boston, supra, at 779, n. 14. "