"Criminal" Lawyers: The Use of Electronic Surveillance and Search Warrants in the Investigation and Prosecution of Attorneys Suspected of Criminal Wrongdoing

Abstract

A license to practice law is not a license to commit crime. When an attorney uses his position to aid an organized crime client in ongoing criminal activity or in running a criminal enterprise, few would disagree that government has the right, indeed the duty, to investigate and prosecute that person to at least the same extent they would his principal.' Law enforcement has the obligation not only to stop and punish the criminal conduct at issue, but also to protect the integrity of the criminal justice system itself. Nonetheless, very real dangers may arise when law enforcement officers investigate attorneys believed to be using their status as attorneys to commit or aid criminal wrongdoing, particularly when the investigative techniques used include the execution of search and electronic surveillance warrants. An intrusion into legitimate attorneyclient communications may occur. The knowledge that such investiga-