A lawyer involved in a conspiracy to promote a false identity to the court in a traffic case was suspended for 30 days with two years probation in California. The client had represented himself to be his passenger in the car who was a longtime friend. He was charged with three counts of DUI. See the post on the lawprofessionblog.com. The client was charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, and the lawyer was not charged.

In yesterday's New Jersey Law Journal: Federal Judge Rules Government Can Scour All of Lawyer's Seized Computer Records:

A federal judge has given prosecutors the go-ahead to review computer records seized from the office of a criminal defense lawyer, even if it means looking at files of clients who were not targets of the search.

U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler says the procedure proposed by prosecutors for the review of the records provided adequate safeguards to protect other client files and privileged materials.

Kugler's ruling stems from a May 8 search of Donald Manno's Cherry Hill, N.J., law office by FBI agents executing a warrant that authorized the seizure of documents from Aug. 1, 2006, to date that pertained to 43 individuals and entities, including alleged organized crime figure Nicodemo Scarfo.

This is the third law office search that I have read about since spring involving a criminal defense lawyer.

The Ohio Board of Grievances and Discipline has issued Opinion 2008-04 on August 15, 2008 that public defenders should not represent co-defendants in a preliminary hearing, including another assistant public defender. From the Syllabus:

Pursuant to Rule 1.7(a)(1) and (a)(2), an assistant county public defender should not represent co-defendants at a preliminary hearing in a felony case due to the inherent risk of a conflict of interest that likely could not be ameliorated under Rule 1.7(b). Two different assistant public defenders in the same county public defender’s office should not separately represent the co-defendants at a preliminary hearing because the conflict of interest of one assistant public defender is imputed to the other pursuant to Rule 1.10(a) and Rule 1.0(c).

Pursuant to Rule 1.7(a)(1) and (a)(2), an assistant county public defender should not represent one co-defendant in a felony case while simultaneously representing the other co-defendant in an unrelated misdemeanor case due to the inherent risk of a conflict of interest that likely could not be ameliorated under Rule 1.7(b). A different assistant public defender in the same county public defender’s office should not represent the co-defendant in the unrelated misdemeanor case because the conflict of interest of one assistant public defender is imputed to the other pursuant to Rule 1.10(a) and Rule 1.0(c). If a former client in an unrelated matter is a witness in a defendant’s criminal case, an assistant county public defender may represent the criminal defendant, but may not use or reveal information of the former client that is protected from disclosure under Rule 1.9(c).

Interview with a criminal defense lawyer for Labor Day in today's Washington Post: Mad About You / Having a Job That Ticks Off Everybody Isn't as Bad as You Might Think:

It's Labor Day weekend, so we paused to think about work. Then we started thinking about people whose work attracts the suspicion, dismissal or loathing of the general public.

The auditor: pickpocketing our hard-earned money.

The used-car salesman: passive-aggressive liar with a glinting Rolex.

The criminal defense attorney: slimeball in a suit, standing up for nefarious creatures.

It interviews NACDL Past President Bill Moffitt, starting on page 3 of the Post post.

A public defender prepared for trial while the prosecutor was intending to drop the charge, without telling her. See ABA's Judge Won’t Sanction Prosecutor for Making PD Do Unnecessary Work. We've all done that, and there isn't much that can be done about it.