General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsProud to be called a "Lawyer".
I hesitate to put too many eggs in the Hannity basket.
I think Cohen may have used Hannity's name as a way to "build up his resume". Cohen was being accused of not being a real lawyer. He needed names to counter that accusation.
Because, if he was not a lawyer, there could be no attorney-client privilege. If there was no attorney-client privilege, all the evidence was open to examination.
Perhaps Cohen thought Hannity would go along with his plan? Obviously, they did not discuss the matter before Hannity's name became public during the hearing. At first, Hannity seemed to go along with the plan. He said they may have discussed 'real estate" and he may have "paid him ten dollars", he said, as if that would make their arrangement official? Then he changed his story. He never had any business with Cohen and he never signed anything and there was never any arrangement between them.
Hannity's statement left Cohen with only two clients, both of the hush-money variety. This is not lawyer business.
AJT
(5,240 posts)legal questions then he could say he was a client.
former9thward
(32,028 posts)Just as they were when B. Clinton paid Paula Jones $850,000. And the attorney client privilege goes along with them.
kentuck
(111,104 posts)There is a difference.
former9thward
(32,028 posts)marybourg
(12,633 posts)but it doesn't REQUIRE a law license to perform such a service. Therefore, without a showing of a regular practice of law, the question is: was he practicing law or merely acting as an agent?
There are duties as a lawyer and there are duties as a business agent. Everything is not considered attorney-client privilege.
former9thward
(32,028 posts)Maybe you would like it to be so but it just isn't.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Much as the absurd allegation that "the MIC wants Americans to die in Eastern Europe!" Just Ain't So, part II.
Dig in, though. And dig the hole deep... in case we need to remove our narratives from view temporarily.
Bless your heart.
Response to former9thward (Reply #16)
marybourg This message was self-deleted by its author.
Demsrule86
(68,595 posts)former9thward
(32,028 posts)It is still is protected. There is no line and no one deciding what work product a licence is needed for.
marybourg
(12,633 posts)practicing law. Here there's no showing of an actual practice of law, but only 2 cases of agency and nothing more. That's what the Judge was looking for.
former9thward
(32,028 posts)A lawyer can twiddle their thumbs for a year and they are in the practice of law. You are trying to define what is legal work and what isn't. That may happen on the internet but not in the real world.
marybourg
(12,633 posts)activate the attorney/client relationship, which is what I thought were discussing here
former9thward
(32,028 posts)thus having a attorney-client privilege, is work requiring a law license to do. That is false. If I call my lawyer and ask him to deliver my taxes into the postal system before midnight tonight, that is the work of a lawyer and I will be billed as such. The privilege will apply to any communications I had with him. Even though this work could have been done by anyone.
marybourg
(12,633 posts)the thread appears on my phone - so I assumed you were responding to me.
marybourg
(12,633 posts)with only her for a client is still entitled to attorney/client privilege with that attorney.
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)The attorney-client privilege thing is strict for a reason, but that strictness cuts both ways. Thats the whole point of the hearing yesterday: if Cohen wasnt doing any legal work for anybody, then theres no privilege.
marybourg
(12,633 posts)of the terms "attorney" and "client". Merely acting as an agent in a pay off to a third person does not create an attorney / client relationship. But such a relationship is not precluded merely because the client is the sole client of a particular lawyer , which is the point I was responding to.
Demsrule86
(68,595 posts)There is no privilege in this scenario...and the warrant was granted because criminal activity is alleged.
marybourg
(12,633 posts)Demsrule86
(68,595 posts)marble falls
(57,112 posts)bag-man operations or that he needed Hannity to round out his client list?
Two clients equals a sketchy operation, but adding Hannity to make three makes him Perry Mason?
I don't need to know anything more about Hannity's business with Cohen except to say if it were as Hannity says, "a minor real estate" question - why seek Cohen out? There's tons of competent real estate law practices all over New York.
blake2012
(1,294 posts)kentuck
(111,104 posts)RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)"The rancid lies Hannity told about Seth Rich were written directly by Russian intel (SVR)"
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016204969
Now I'm wondering if Hannity isn't guilty of treason.
brooklynite
(94,606 posts)Ever notice how mob lawyers don't advertise for extra business?
GeorgeGist
(25,321 posts)They're both liars. 🤔
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Allen Weisselberg, Trump Org's chief financial officer, is his big counterpart on the financial side.
This helps explain Cohen's incompetence as an attorney -- he's just a "fixer" for someone who himself is a sleazy incompetent, both currently operating infinitely above their levels. Interesting with regard to Cohen's loyalty, Trump didn't bring Cohen to the White House with him, which Cohen is believed to very much mind.
In any case, both these other men have to know far, far more than Cohen about Trump's business dealings during the more recent decades of what a New Yorker article says is widely believed to be a life of "rampant criminality."
eleny
(46,166 posts)So maybe he's no so all-in as they think in Trump World.
Demsrule86
(68,595 posts)pbmus
(12,422 posts)He is a mob lawyer....