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Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law Keyed to Lerman, 6th Ed.
Swidler & Berlin v. United States
Citation:
524 U.S. 399, 118 S.Ct. 2081, 141 L.Ed.2d 379 (1998)Facts
In July 1993, Vincent Foster, Deputy White House Counsel, met with attorney James Hamilton of Swidler & Berlin to seek legal representation concerning possible investigations of the White House Travel Office firings. During their two-hour meeting, Hamilton took three pages of handwritten notes, marking them as “Privileged.” Nine days after this meeting, Foster committed suicide. In December 1995, a federal grand jury, at the request of the Independent Counsel investigating potential crimes related to the Travel Office matter, issued subpoenas to Hamilton and his law firm for the notes. The petitioners filed a motion to quash, arguing the notes were protected by attorney-client privilege. The Independent Counsel argued that the privilege should not prevent disclosure where the client had died and the information was relevant to a criminal proceeding.
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