Posted on 08/19/2016 11:03:32 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A series of tweets by well-known Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe caused a bit of firestorm online amongst legal ethics experts.
It started on Tuesday when Prof. Tribe sent out this Tweet:
(TWEET-AT-LINK)
What followed was a rather lengthy back and forth on Twitter, with some encouraging Tribe to reveal the notes and others accusing him of breaking various legal ethical rules governing the attorney client relationship.
Attorney Michael Krauss penned a strong rebuke of Tribe’s conduct in article in Forbes, calling it “extremely disappointing.” Krauss concluded that not only would the notes be confidential, but the mere fact that Trump called to seek legal advice would also almost certainly be confidential as well.
We reached out to Prof. Tribe, but he declined to comment, instead referring us to his response to critics in an article published on Friday in the National Law Journal.
Here is Prof. Tribe’s full statement, from the National Law Journal:
The tweet I sent about Mr. Trump having sought my legal advice 20 years ago breached no confidence and violated no privilege. I did wonder whether disclosing my notes of that call would be improper, decided that it wouldn’t be, but concluded that I wouldn’t disclose the notes in any event.
People who doubt the propriety of my even having mentioned that he sought my counsel assume that the fact of his call was some kind of secret. But I have no reason to doubt that he let others know that he was calling me. It was nothing to be ashamed about.
In any event, I have never revealed the substantive topic of his inquiry, never said whether I offered him any advice, never agreed to represent him, and have said nothing at all about the content of our conversation other than that he asked my legal views about something.
LawNewz.com reached out George Washington University Law School Professor John Banzhaf to discuss the potential issues surrounding this matter. Prof. Banzhaf specializes in public interest law, but is also well known for successfully filing formal complaints against attorneys over ethical violations. Most notably, he played a role in the disbarment and civil litigation against Duke lacrosse prosecutor Mike Nifong. Prof. Banzhaf has also filed ethics complaints against several of the prosecutors involved with bringing charges against Baltimore police officers over the death of Freddie Gray.
Prof. Banzahf reviewed the various articles published on this matter and concluded that the tweets “certainly constitute a breach of attorney-client confidentiality, at the very least.”
Based on the available evidence, Prof. Banzhaf said it was clear that an attorney-client relationship existed between Trump and Tribe, as Tribe admits Trump sought his legal advice. Furthermore, the existence of notes from conversation suggests it was a rather extensive discussion, according to Prof. Banzhaf.
He then explained that when a client contacts an attorney for legal advice, the client has an expectation that even the fact he contacted the lawyer will remain confidential. “It is not up to the lawyer to put himself in the client’s shoes to determine whether something should be confidential,” Banzhaf said. “An attorney must assume a legal conversation with a client demands confidentiality, unless or until the client specifically waives the privilege” (or certain circumstances that do not apply here occur).
While Prof. Banzhaf believes it should’ve been clear to Tribe that this was not even a borderline issue, he was in utter disbelief about the decision to address this matter on Twitter to begin with.
“This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Prof. Banzhaf said. “He is a noted attorney and professor at Harvard where he has many legal colleagues … to help him think through the problem if desired. …The idea that he put it on twitter is absurd.”
Prof. Banzhaf was also critical of Tribe’s continued attempts to defend his actions, saying, “Subsequently doubling down on this matter makes even less sense.”
Wonder how much a pay-per-view Bumfight of some bum beating the teeth out of Laurence Tribe’s lie-hole would haul in?
Even smart people sometimes do stupid things.
A: Laurence Tribe with the Mitt beaten out of him...
Unethical and idiotic Harvard Law prof..... well the douche taught Obama so who would expect any better from Tribe????
It is amazing that Tribe is supposed to be considered a renowned law professor and legal consultant, when he is so obviously stupid and recklessly biased.
You can have all kinds of Titles, Monies, Friends, etc, but nothing keeps you from being a Idiot but Yourself.
Apparently Tribe needs to be reminded of the definition of confidentiality, but who cares if Trump did seek legal advice? Sounds more like a me, me, me tweet.
If Trump paid for the advice, then privilege was breached. Otherwise, you get what you pay for.
The problem is being friendly with Trump.
In the age of lawlessness... Tribe sees no issue. Everyone does what they want and it is lawful... unless you are a conservative.
I first heard Tribe’s name in connection with his warning to other liberals that the Second Amendment actually means what it says. Liberals were not happy to hear that.
** If Trump paid for the advice, then privilege was breached. Otherwise, you get what you pay for. **
Untrue. Model Rules for ethical behavior, and confidentiality
are not based on the occurrence of a monetary transaction.
IMHO, he let his rabid support for Hillary override any moral or ethical standards, and hoped his comment might impugn Trump, or cast some aspersions upon him.
Or maybe Tribe is getting senile dementia, and needs to be put out to pasture.
Tribe is a long time liberal. Going all in for Hillary shows desperation of a pretty high caliber.
Not a lawyer, but this seems like a serious breech of ethics.
Doesn’t matter. Liberal professors can do no wrong.
Just because some lib lawyer is “well-known”, that’s no indication of whether he’s competent, or not. It’s obvious from this article, he’s not.
Probably wants a public fight with Trump. I now suspect everything as a lure to draw him off point.
MEDIA: “Mr. Trump....were you asking for advice about an alleged donation to Satan?”
I don’t know about lawyers but for doctors money changing hands has nothing to do with it.
Really?
In the near future, the term Harvard Law may prove to be a prime example of the term Oxymoron.
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