Boston Bar Re-Affirms Importance of Attorney-Client Privilege

            BOSTON, Nov. 27 – Boston Bar Association President Jack Cinquegrana, a partner at Choate Hall & Stewart, today announced that the BBA has joined with The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Beverly Hills Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association and The Bar Association of San Francisco in filing an amicus brief in American Civil Liberties Union, Et Al. v. National Security Agency, Et Al, a case now pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  The brief urges the Court of Appeals in Cincinnati to affirm a lower court ruling that permanently enjoined the National Security Administration’s warrantless surveillance program.

"Throughout its history, the BBA has advocated for the protection of the attorney-client privilege as a necessary component of our adversary system of justice," said Cinquegrana.  "The privilege makes the advice of counsel available to all persons and enables them to have meaningful access to the justice system.  To be effective, the privilege must be enforced to permit lawyers and their clients to communicate openly, without fear that the government may be listening."

The brief makes these and other points:

• Preserving the confidentiality of lawyer-client communications is essential to the effective assistance of counsel;
• Wiretapping communications between lawyers and their clients chills communications protected by the First Amendment;
• Wiretapping communications between lawyers and their clients inhibits the effective assistance of Counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment.