The National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys (NACDL) posted the following notice seeking a Director for White Collar Crime Policy:

Vesselin Mitev, NLJ (Law.com), Lawyer Cannot Be Prosecuted for Giving Advice, Panel Finds -The attorney last year denied encouraging the resignation by the nurses, who had been accused by the DA of abandoning their patients

"We cannot conclude that an attorney who advises a client to take an action that he or she, in good faith, believes to be legal, loses the protection of the First Amendment if his or her advice is later determined to be incorrect. Indeed, it would eviscerate the right to give and receive legal counsel with respect to potential criminal liability if an attorney could be charged with conspiracy and solicitation whenever a District Attorney disagreed with that advice. The potential impact of allowing an attorney to be prosecuted in circumstances such as those presented here are profoundly disturbing. A looming threat of criminal sanctions would deter attorneys from acquainting individuals with matters as vital as the breadth of their legal rights and the limits of those rights. Correspondingly, where counsel is restrained, so is the fundamental right of the citizenry, bound as it is by laws complex and unfamiliar, to receive the advice necessary for measured conduct.

"Moreover, by placing an attorney in the position of being required to defend the advice that he or she has provided, the state compels revelation of, and thus places within its reach, confidential communications between attorney and client. . ."

The opinion is here.

(esp) (w/ a hat tip to Bill Olis)

Alex Bunin, of the Federal Public Defender’s Office in New York puts out a wonderful publication on federal convictions that are reversed. His latest update can be found at –

Download federal_convictions_reversed_12.08.pdf

In the white collar area you’ll find cases on mail fraud/ RICO/perjury/false statements, etc.

(esp)

Dan Slater has a wonderful piece on the importance of the Sixth Amendment’s Right to Counsel and the implications to this right when the government proceeds criminally against legal counsel. See Dan Slater, Wall St Jrl, Scales of Justice: The Right to Counsel vs. the Need to Bar Tainted Legal Fees  The article speaks directly to the Ben Kuehne case.  For background see here and here. But I have to wonder about a statement at the end of the article that seems to imply that cases to PDs aren’t increasing, so therefore lawyers aren’t being skeptical about taking these cases. Could it perhaps be that there hasn’t been an increase of drug cases to the PD’s office because there has been such a strong focus by the FBI on terrorism and immigration, and a movement away from drug cases? Drug cases have declined and no longer hold the top priority that they did in past years. TRAC notes here in a September 2008 report:

"Ranked 3^rd was "Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841. Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 was ranked 2^nd a year ago, while it was the 1^st most frequently invoked five years ago. It was ranked 1^st ten years ago and 1^st twenty years ago."

So perhaps lawyers are really being deterred from taking these cases, and the fact that PDs are not seeing a decrease in cases in their office is an indication of just that.

(esp)

Keith Coffman, Rocky Mountain News, Enron Prosecutor on Joe Nacchio Team – Sean Berkowitz Has Role Defending Former Qwest CEO

(esp)

John Pacenti, Law.com (subscription required), Defense Team Argues DOJ Ideology Spurred Money Laundering Indictment of Miami Attorney

Background and Prior Discussion of the Ben Kuehne Case:

Supreme Court Rules Against the Government in Two Money Laundering Cases

In the News & Blogsphere

Government Returns Third Superseding Indictment in Prosecution of Defense Attorney Benedict P. Kuehne

White Collar Crime Institute – It’s Tough Being a Criminal Defense Attorney

What Conrad Black Says As He Enters Prison

Which Government Office is Behind This One?

Indicted for Writing Opinion Letters

Respected Miami Attorney Charged with Money Laundering

(esp)

Addendum – Southern District of Florida Blog here

We mourn the passing of criminal defense lawyer Donald B. Fiedler.  His obituary is here (Omaha World Herald).  He will be missed.  He was well known for his wonderful teaching at the National Criminal Defense College. See NACDL here.

In lieu of flowers, Memorials to National Criminal Defense College, c/o Mercer Law School, Macon, GA, 31207.

The photo of Don doing William Jennings Bryan. With a thanks to Korey Reiman; John Wesley Hall, and Norman Reimer. (esp)