ACC urges the U.S. Supreme Court to grant the petition to review a Tenth Circuit ruling that a New Mexico professional conduct rule does not apply to federal prosecutors who want to subpoena lawyers to testify about clients before grand juries.
The New Mexico rule at issue is based on the ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 3.8(e), which limits prosecutors’ ability to subpoena a lawyer (including in-house counsel) in a grand jury or other criminal proceeding to present evidence about a client. The Department of Justice sued the state of New Mexico to challenge the rule’s applicability to the grand jury setting. ACC contends that New Mexico’s rule, which is also found in 30 other states, is needed to encourage full and frank communication between corporations and their in-house attorneys.
The brief was filed June 1, 2017 in Supreme Court of New Mexico v. United States, No. 13-1323. ACC thanks Lawrence S. Ebner of Capital Appellate Advocacy PLLC, counsel of record, for writing the brief.
See the brief here.