A Dumb Question - If Juliani Knows Trump Has Committed Obstruction ....

[global1]

isn't he obstructing as well by trying to help Trump lie his way out of this? Or is this kind of action by a lawyer acceptable?

[RocRizzo55]

1. Ghoulini

will lie his way out of anything.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Giuliani is acting on behalf of the interests of Donald Trump as his attorney.

There are rules.

If you break a particular rule, you put yourself under the threat of your client suing you for malpractice. That's when you don't serve the interests of your client, causing them to lose money, freedom, and/or status. Part of it is keeping your client from compromising your position, such as lying and obstructing justice. The other threat is losing your law license. Even if your client doesn't sue for malpractice, s/he, they, it, or a third party can report you to the state Bar Association. You risk being disbarred. And it's a real threat. Richard Nixon and Roy Cohn were disbarred.


If things go South, expect Trump to seek his "justice" from Giuliani, if only to accuse that his lawyer didn't tell him to STFU.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Lawyers may not assist their clients in the commission of a crime,

but they may defend them (in fact, they must defend them within the limits of the law and the rules of professional conduct) regarding a crime they have already committed. Rudy's lies made via the media are not illegal, and anything Trump may have told him when seeking legal advice is protected by the attorney-client privilege. So if a client tells a lawyer that he is guilty of the murder he's being charged with and where the body is buried, the lawyer can't tell anybody. He can also go on TV and say his client is innocent. However, if he knows his client is going to lie during the trial and thereby commit perjury, he has to withdraw from representation. He also can't help the client hide the body.

[Shrike47]

6. I used to represent the State in Post-conviction cases. Had a fascinating case re :disclosure.

Arrested man told his attorney, right after disappearance of two children he had contact with*, that possibly the children would be found in a certain place, and drew a very rough map. The map was to a wild, forested, mountainous area. The attorney stewed. The client did not tell the attorney if the children were dead. The attorney stewed some more.

What would you, as the attorney, do?

The attorney considered going and looking himself, but feared he would miss the children, if they were there, due to the vagueness of the map and the wild terrain.

Eventually, he got his secretary to make an anonymous telephone call to the police conveying all the information he had.

The police searched, found the children (dead) and the client was convicted of murder.

All in all, I was glad I wasn’t the attorney.

* the client went to the victims’ house to buy meth. There wasn’t any. He was furious.

Shrike47

[qazplm135]

4. Let's say my client says I killed my spouse

I know it, but I am trying to do a trial by media approach (which done correctly can work).

I can tell the media...the brother of the spouse did it, or whatever lie I want to tell.

Now, I can't lie in court, but outside of court? I can lie until the stars burn out.

[Progressive Law]

5. Beware of defamation issues

In public, the lawyer will likely not accuse any other specific person of the homicide. That is running dangerously close to defamation: slander/libel.

Instead, the lawyer will likely say "the evidence suggests, someone else committed the murder". That's an opinion because the lawyer is saying that his/her subjective interpretation of the evidence suggests to him/her that someone else committed the killing. And since it's an opinion, it's not defamation.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Or, "My client continues to assert his innocence."

Giuliani's comments about Cohen are pretty close to the edge of defamation, if not over it.