FROM THE CLASSROOM
“The Attorney-Client Privilege and Criminal Investigations”
By Ray Hill
Professor emeritus, Santa Rosa Junior College
This is second in a series of articles covering the California Evidence Code and criminal investigations. Let’s look at the attorney-client privilege and how it may tie into evidence gathering in your case.
The Basics
This is a confidential communication privilege, belonging to both parties, between attorney and client during a professional relationship for the purpose of seeking legal consultation and advice (952 E.C).
An attorney is bound by a code of ethics and California State Bar regulations to maintain the confidentiality of client disclosures. No employment agreement need take place, no fees need be paid and counsel doesn’t need to be retained for later legal action. The privilege includes observations that are the product of a confidential communication. The privilege remains in effect even after the attorney-client relationship ends (U.S. v. White (1992) 970 F 2nd 328).
The privilege covers out-of-state lawyers and foreign lawyers (In re: Gonzales (1989) 212 Cal. App. 3d 461). A person must actually be licensed to practice law for a privilege to be valid. For example, conversations with a “jailhouse lawyer” were not covered by privilege. A person must reasonably believe that his or her legal adviser is licensed to practice law (Peo. v. Velasquez (1987) 192 Cal. App. 3d 322).
Privilege also can be vicariously applied to a witness, family member or other person(s) whose presence during a consultation is reasonably necessary to further a client’s legal interests. The privilege also applies to the attorney’s employees (paralegal, legal secretary, investigator, for example). These related third parties can be blocked from testifying to the content of any confidential communications.
Potential Privilege Violations
Intentionally eavesdropping upon or recording an attorney-client conversation is a felony (636 P.C.). This statute applies whether the eavesdropping or recording is done with “one’s ear to the door” or with an electronic device.
Exceptions
At first glance, you might believe the attorney-client privilege is pretty much locked down. However, there are a few legal rules requiring communications to be disclosed that could be pursued during your investigation.
Unrelated Third Parties, Eavesdropping
The privilege is void when a communication is made in the known presence of a third party not involved in the legal relationship (912 E.C.). This is an unlikely scenario given an attorney’s professional and ethical obligation to maintain a “private environment” for legal discussions.
The privilege is waived where others could significantly overhear a conversation or when a communication is made under circumstances where it is not intended to be confidential (North v. Superior Court (1972) 8 Cal. 3d 301).
The court will ultimately decide to what extent an attorney-client conversation was not meant to be confidential and to what extent the content of the conversation will be disclosed. So, your follow up investigation should always attempt to seek out any leads where the client had “loose lips.”
Crime-Fraud Exception
The attorney-client privilege is void if a consultation takes place for the purpose of planning to commit or concealing a crime/fraud (956 E.C.) A person cannot go to an attorney to obtain legal advice in preparation for and in advance of criminal activity. The privilege is only applicable to “after-the-fact” legal consultation. If during an investigation, any such conservations are discovered, the attorney would be legally bound to disclose this conversation. An attorney can stay within the law by disclosing any conversation privately to the court and having the magistrate decide about further disclosure.
Preventing a Serious Crime
The attorney-client privilege doesn’t apply when an attorney reasonably believes disclosure of a conversation is necessary to prevent a client from committing a crime likely to result in death or great bodily injury (956.5 E.C.). This disclosure may be made to law enforcement or the court.
Coming into Possession of Evidence
What if a client turns over evidence of a crime and it is now in defense counsel’s possession? There is a legal obligation to turn the evidence over to the court or counsel could be committing a Concealing of Evidence with Intent to Prevent It from Being Introduced crime (135 P.C.).
Any surrender can be done without comment as to the source of the evidence. The court will decide under what circumstances the evidence will be turned over to the prosecution. As an investigator, you would then have to link the evidence to the defendant through independent legal sources.
However, case law draws a fine line between actually possessing evidence of a crime and simply knowing about the location of evidence.
So, the attorney-client privilege is not entirely “locked down.” Be aware of these exceptions as your case investigation progresses.
Next up, the doctor/patient and clergy/confessor privileges.
Stay safe!
RH
**Reminder on previous post:
Effective 1/1/23, the law against Loitering for the Purpose of Engaging in a Prostitution Offense (653.20/653.22 P.C.) is repealed.
See LU Ref. #CAB00161 (7/7/22).