Visiting Prof. David Schultz '98 Pens Op-Ed in Bloomberg Law on the Crime-Fraud Exception

Visiting Professor David Schultz wrote an op-ed for Bloomberg Law where he examined the more frequent use of the crime-fraud exception, and it's implications for a central concept of American law: attorney-client confidentiality. Schultz explains, "privilege can hide, not enable, illegal behavior. There will be increased pressure to force lawyers to rat on their clients, unless the legal community is more serious about self-regulation to ensure attorneys don’t give legal advice to clients to help them break the law."

Schultz posits that the increased use of the crime-fraud exception is a direct results of attorneys failing to self-regulate themselves, elaborating "Attorneys occupy a near-privileged position in our society. Part of the low public opinion toward them might be rooted in the abuse of that privilege. Some attorneys continue to ignore client bad behavior and do nothing to prevent it. If that behavior persists, the law may impose more restrictions on attorney-client privilege and mandate more attorney whistleblowing on clients."