Second Circuit says government lawyers have privilege too.

Trial, May, 2005 by Jurand, Sara Hoffman

The attorney-client privilege applies to government lawyers as well as attorneys representing private citizens or businesses, the Second Circuit has ruled. The appeals court reversed an order compelling a former lawyer for the Connecticut governor's office to testify before a grand jury in a federal criminal investigation of the governor and his staff. The ruling splits with three other circuits.

"The argument for letting state officials claim [this] privilege is that ... encouraging officials to seek advice and to communicate confidentially furthers governmental goals more effectively than a system in which no privilege is recognized in criminal investigations," said Professor Stephen Saltzburg, a privilege-issues expert at George Washington University Law...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.