Court Opinion

ID: 9490124
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:33:39.559847+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:54.750766
License: Public Domain

MICHAEL DALY HAWKINS, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
Judge Fernandez wisely avoids reaching the issue of waiver of the attorney-client privilege. Because we want clients to be candid with their counsel and we want lawyers to give informed advice, we have long considered their communications beyond the reach of outsiders to the attorney-client relationship. See, e.g., United States v. Zolin, 491 U.S. 554, 562, 109 S.Ct. 2619, 2625-26, 105 L.Ed.2d 469 (1989); Upjohn v. United States, 449 U.S. 383, 389, 101 S.Ct. 677, 682, 66 L.Ed.2d 584 (1981); United States v. Chen, 99 F.3d 1495, 1499-1500 (9th Cir.1996), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 117 S.Ct. 1429, — L.Ed.2d - (1997). This is particularly true in the criminal context, where courts have long frowned on unwarranted government intrusion into these private affairs. See, e.g., Chen, 99 F.3d at 1499 (“The attorney-client privilege is essential to preservation of liberty against a powerful government.”). It matters not that the content of the communication would be of great interest to the government; creating an exception to the confidential nature of these communications any time the government wanted to “listen in” would swallow up the rule. Cf. Admiral Ins. Co. v. United States Dist. Ct. for the Dist. of Ariz., 881 F.2d 1486, 1492 (9th Cir.1989) (“LT]he advantage of preserving the privilege outweighs the inescapable disadvantage of the resultant secrecy.”).
Precisely because the privilege is so critical, it should be deemed waived only in the most express of circumstances. Certainly when the client executes a written waiver of the privilege or asserts at trial as a defense to the charges that he relied on the advice of counsel in doing what he did, our cases are clear that a waiver has occurred and the government may freely explore the details of the discussions. See Chevron Corp. v. Pennzoil Co., 974 F.2d 1156, 1162 (9th Cir.1992) (implied waiver of privilege by assertion of advice-of-eounsel defense). But neither of those things occurred here. The government chose not to require a written waiver as a condition of considering the Ortlands’ contention that their reliance on counsel negated any possible criminal intent on their part. The government conceded at argument that asking for such a waiver would have been easy enough to do.
We should tread very carefully before approving what the district court sanctioned here. Gerald Ortland did not waive his attorney-client privilege with attorney Ericsson nor did he assert as a defense at trial his reliance on Ericsson’s advice. He did attend a pre-indictment conference with representatives of the government and listened while his soon-to-be fugitive wife and their two new lawyers and an accountant argued against seeking an indictment. And while other circuits have held such actions to constitute a waiver of the privilege, the logic and reasoning of those decisions is simply not persuasive.
Having said all that, Judge Fernandez correctly analyzes the record and concludes that any error resulting from the admission of Ericsson’s testimony (over the objections of Gerald’s trial counsel) was, in light of the entire record, harmless.
I concur.