A law firm looking to keep the U.S. government from accessing the records of a client accused of tax crimes on Monday asked the Supreme Court to rule the documents are protected under attorney-client privilege.
The law firm and the client remain anonymous in the court filings, with the case name only reading “In Re Grand Jury.”
But the issue has been handled differently by various circuit courts, spurring the law firm to argue the justices must settle the scope of attorney-client privilege during criminal investigations, so there can be a uniform approach across all courts.
Daniel Benjamin Levin, who represented the law firm, told the justices that lawyers won’t be confident in their communications with clients when they do not know exactly what will be protected — their legal advice, other commentary, both legal and non-legal advice or potentially neither.