Teaching a Client to Lie

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Teaching a Client to Lie: Vigorous Counsel or Suborning Perjury

One of the most troubling "grey areas" in the practice of law is the question of where a lawyer’s advice crosses the line from helping the client make a good case into providing a recipe for perjury. How is this issue dealt with in the American and in Judaic law?

Handouts:	Teaching a Client to Lie
Topics:	Lawyers, Law; Jurisprudence, Perjury

By Shlomo Yaffe

Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe is a frequent contributor of articles and media to Chabad.org, is Dean of the Institute of American and Talmudic Law in New York, N.Y., and Rabbi of Congregation B'nai Torah in Springfield. Mass. Rabbi Yaffe has lectured and led seminars throughout North America, as well as in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

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2 Comments

Anonymous May 9, 2012

The premise that the Rabbi discussed regrettably subsumed the thoroughly erroneous presumption of there being a non-corrupt judiciary.

Corruption exists in every level of our judicial system, and it's rampant in many of key areas (i.e., juridical and administrative).

Thus, in relative terms society has little to fear from a lowly corrupt attorney. However, society will not exist with a corrupt judiciary. New York has been very, very slow to learn this crucial lesson and by omission has been complicit in its own downfall.

Most lawyers that litigate in NY have witnessed the staggering number of corrupt judges. One reason the Rabbi does not teach a parallel class relative to corrupt jurists is because JUDGES ARE NOT BOUND BY THE SAME CODE. Worse, still, he has nothing to teach because NO LAWS EXIST IN NY FOR REMOVING OR PROSECUTING A CORRUPT JUDGE. Nor in the federal system.

If you don't sense something corrupt about that, then you (and $25,000.00) will make you a great NY jurist Reply

Anonymous Sunrise, FL August 18, 2011

How true! Seen all of this before my eyes as well when I used to work with a lawyer many years ago, where I was the photographer so his client could receive a lesser charge instead of murder 1 and received that lessor charge instead. That was in night court in the state of Maryland. Many lawyers I had worked for and how they would win. You could almost write that book now ,where did you say you wanted to start at? I rest my case ... smiles! Reply

Vigorous Counsel or Suborning Perjury