CrimLaw

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Gee, it must be great to work for BigLaw. You tell the SEC that if it passes legislation requiring you to report plainly illegal, ongoing activities it will violate lawyer-client privilege . . . And the SEC buys it.

Put in perspective, this is the equivilent of one of my clients informing me of an ongoing scam ("I've programmed the bank's computer to transfer $500 a day to my account from inactive accounts, randomly at $5 amounts throughout each day"), me advising him to stop immediately, client refusing, and me asserting that I don't have to inform authorities of the violation because of attorney-client privilege. Later, I stand before the judge, as an accessory after the fact (for taking fees which proceed in part from this money), and even later I stand at the Bar trying to retain my license. Who out there thinks that attorney-client privilege will save me?

I have called the Bar's ethics hotline on a similar issue (but less serious). An attorney whom I am not sure has ever practiced criminal law advised me that I was obligated to turn on my client. Luckily, confrontation with the client went well and I was able to halt the action and withdraw from the case in a manner which did not bias his trial. However, I suspect some other fishy stuff went on because by the time his sentence was final he was on his 4th lawyer (I was the first).