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What Is Attorney-Client Privilege?

时间:2018-04-12 23:12:05

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(单词翻译)

 

President Donald Trump1 tweeted a message one day after the Federal Bureau of Investigation2 (FBI) took action against his lawyer.

Trump tweeted, “Attorney-client privilege is dead.”

The statement came a day after the FBI raided the New York office and hotel room of Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen.

The FBI reportedly took emails, tax documents and other records. The records are believed to be related to Cohen’s alleged3 payment to two women who say they had sexual relations with Trump. One is the adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The other is a model, Karen McDougal.

The raid angered the president and his supporters.

Commentator4 Laura Ingraham tweeted: “If by raiding the office of @realDonaldTrump’s attorney, the FBI violated Trump’s attorney-client privilege, this is about to get really ugly.”

Michael Frisch is a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington. He said, like much of American law, the attorney-client privilege is rooted in English common law. Common law comes from the decision of judges and courts over time.

Exceptions to rule

The American Bar Association says, “Without such a privilege,” clients may not feel they can speak openly with their attorney.

But Frisch says the privilege is not absolute.

“It has exceptions, and if the exceptions are met, evidence can be seized and admitted in a court,” he said.

One exception is the “crime-fraud” special case in which an attorney and his client commit a crime or try to hide a crime,” said Frisch.

Attornies can also be searched when they are a suspect in a criminal investigation. Cohen is reportedly being investigated for fraud, and campaign finance violations5.

Frisch said such cases are rare. But he said getting a search warrant for an attorney’s home or office happens often enough that the Justice Department has created rules for the action.

The rules are strong. Prosecutors7 are asked to use search warrants as the last possibility and only after they have used all other legal ways of getting the information they want from an attorney's office.

In Cohen's case, it is not clear why prosecutors believed they could not get the records they needed for their investigation without searching his office.

‘Unnecessary seizure8'

Stephen Ryan is an attorney for Cohen. He said the prosecutors' use of a search warrant was "completely…unnecessary” and said they resulted in the “seizure of protected attorney-client communications.”

The U.S. Attorney’s office rules for such searches include setting a high-level approval process and a process of storing information that is still privileged.

A U.S. attorney or the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division must agree with the request for a search warrant before the request goes to a federal judge for approval.

In Cohen’s case, prosecutors reportedly got the approval of deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department’s second highest official.

To lessen9 the possibility that privileged material will be taken, the search warrant must be written “as specifically as possible.”

FBI Agents responsible for the searches are given special procedures to follow to be sure prosecutors do not get any privileged material.

To further protect the process, a “privilege team” of agents and attorneys who are not part of the investigation is set up. The team's job is to advise agents during the search and to point out communications that cannot be taken.

Eric Jaso is a former federal prosecutor6. He said, if an agent takes privileged information by mistake and reads it, that agent is removed from the investigation. The team also could be considered corrupted10 by seeing the privileged information.

Frisch said that Trump’s tweet that the “attorney-client privilege is dead” is “unfair.”

“It is not an absolute protection,” he said.

Jaso said that he understood Trump’s anger.

“I think the president is…simply saying, 'Hey, this is my lawyer,'” he said. He added that no one would want government investigators11 looking at their attorney’s records without a good reason.

I’m Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

attorney – n. a person whose job is to guide and assist people in matters relating to the law

client – n. a person who pays a professional person or organization for services

privilege – n. a right or benefit that is given to some people or circumstances

alleged – adj. accused of having done something wrong or illegal but not yet proven guilty

hush12 – adj. to prevent people from knowing the truth about (something, such as a crime)

violate – v. to do something that is not allowed by (a law

absolute – adj. never changing

fraud – n. the crime of using dishonest methods to take something valuable from another person

warrant – n. a document issued by a court that gives the police the power to do something

prosecutor – n. a lawyer who represents the side in a court case that accuses a person of a crime and who tries to prove that the person is guilty

client –n. a person who pays a professional person or organization for services

specifically – adv. in a definite and exact way


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 trump LU1zK     
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭
参考例句:
  • He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
  • The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手,作为他的王牌。
2 investigation MRKzq     
n.调查,调查研究
参考例句:
  • In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
  • He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。
3 alleged gzaz3i     
a.被指控的,嫌疑的
参考例句:
  • It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
  • alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为
4 commentator JXOyu     
n.注释者,解说者;实况广播评论员
参考例句:
  • He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛,是个好的解说者。
  • The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。
5 violations 403b65677d39097086593415b650ca21     
违反( violation的名词复数 ); 冒犯; 违反(行为、事例); 强奸
参考例句:
  • This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
  • These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。
6 prosecutor 6RXx1     
n.起诉人;检察官,公诉人
参考例句:
  • The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
  • The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。
7 prosecutors a638e6811c029cb82f180298861e21e9     
检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 ); 告发人; 起诉人; 公诉人
参考例句:
  • In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方,检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
  • You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。
8 seizure FsSyO     
n.没收;占有;抵押
参考例句:
  • The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
  • The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。
9 lessen 01gx4     
vt.减少,减轻;缩小
参考例句:
  • Regular exercise can help to lessen the pain.经常运动有助于减轻痛感。
  • They've made great effort to lessen the noise of planes.他们尽力减小飞机的噪音。
10 corrupted 88ed91fad91b8b69b62ce17ae542ff45     
(使)败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)腐化; 引起(计算机文件等的)错误; 破坏
参考例句:
  • The body corrupted quite quickly. 尸体很快腐烂了。
  • The text was corrupted by careless copyists. 原文因抄写员粗心而有讹误。
11 investigators e970f9140785518a87fc81641b7c89f7     
n.调查者,审查者( investigator的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
  • The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 hush ecMzv     
int.嘘,别出声;n.沉默,静寂;v.使安静
参考例句:
  • A hush fell over the onlookers.旁观者们突然静了下来。
  • Do hush up the scandal!不要把这丑事声张出去!

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