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kentuck

(111,104 posts)
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 09:31 AM Apr 2018

Proud 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.

32 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Proud to be called a "Lawyer". (Original Post) kentuck Apr 2018 OP
I was thinking that too. Cohen was grasping at straws and figured if Hannity asked any AJT Apr 2018 #1
Settlement agreements are "lawyer business" former9thward Apr 2018 #2
There are legal "settlements" and there are "hush-money" settlements. kentuck Apr 2018 #3
No, not legally. former9thward Apr 2018 #14
A lawyer MAY perform such a service, marybourg Apr 2018 #6
True. kentuck Apr 2018 #7
No actual lawyer would agree with you. former9thward Apr 2018 #16
Much as the absurd allegation that "the MIC wants Americans to die in Eastern Europe!" LanternWaste Apr 2018 #18
This message was self-deleted by its author marybourg Apr 2018 #22
If there is criminality...that changes everything. Demsrule86 Apr 2018 #24
Lawyers routinely do a lot of thing which don't require a license. former9thward Apr 2018 #15
If, as in the usual case, the lawyer is actually marybourg Apr 2018 #25
No clients are needed to "practice law". former9thward Apr 2018 #27
But a client IS needed to marybourg Apr 2018 #28
I was responding to posters claiming that legal work former9thward Apr 2018 #29
Well, you responded to my post - at least that's how marybourg Apr 2018 #30
The client of a lawyer marybourg Apr 2018 #4
Only if the attorney is doing legal work Nevernose Apr 2018 #17
That's implicit in my use marybourg Apr 2018 #19
Not if the actions taken are of a criminal nature. Demsrule86 Apr 2018 #23
Yes, that's the important exception. marybourg Apr 2018 #26
This is why they got a judge to agree to a no knock warrant. Demsrule86 Apr 2018 #31
Does anybody REALLY believe that Cohen lives off the billings of two clients in a handful of .... marble falls Apr 2018 #5
Not true blake2012 Apr 2018 #8
Thanks for clearing that up. kentuck Apr 2018 #9
I might have agreed with you -- before I read this RandomAccess Apr 2018 #10
A guy with only two real clients isn't trying to "build up his resume"... brooklynite Apr 2018 #11
Liars lie. GeorgeGist Apr 2018 #12
Cohen's not Trump's big attorney, Jason Greenblatt is, or was. Hortensis Apr 2018 #13
Hannity has been so all-in for Trump eleny Apr 2018 #20
I am more and more convinced Hannity has a 'me to ' problem..he acts like a man hiding something. Demsrule86 Apr 2018 #21
Just asking,,,does anyone believe that Cohen has only 3 clients...??? pbmus Apr 2018 #32

AJT

(5,240 posts)
1. I was thinking that too. Cohen was grasping at straws and figured if Hannity asked any
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 09:34 AM
Apr 2018

legal questions then he could say he was a client.

former9thward

(32,028 posts)
2. Settlement agreements are "lawyer business"
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 09:44 AM
Apr 2018

Just as they were when B. Clinton paid Paula Jones $850,000. And the attorney client privilege goes along with them.

marybourg

(12,633 posts)
6. A lawyer MAY perform such a service,
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 10:17 AM
Apr 2018

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?

kentuck

(111,104 posts)
7. True.
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 10:20 AM
Apr 2018

There are duties as a lawyer and there are duties as a business agent. Everything is not considered attorney-client privilege.

 

LanternWaste

(37,748 posts)
18. Much as the absurd allegation that "the MIC wants Americans to die in Eastern Europe!"
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 04:35 PM
Apr 2018

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)

former9thward

(32,028 posts)
15. Lawyers routinely do a lot of thing which don't require a license.
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 04:23 PM
Apr 2018

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)
25. If, as in the usual case, the lawyer is actually
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 06:22 PM
Apr 2018

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)
27. No clients are needed to "practice law".
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 06:25 PM
Apr 2018

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)
28. But a client IS needed to
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 06:29 PM
Apr 2018

activate the attorney/client relationship, which is what I thought were discussing here

former9thward

(32,028 posts)
29. I was responding to posters claiming that legal work
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 06:52 PM
Apr 2018

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)
30. Well, you responded to my post - at least that's how
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 06:55 PM
Apr 2018

the thread appears on my phone - so I assumed you were responding to me.

marybourg

(12,633 posts)
4. The client of a lawyer
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 10:10 AM
Apr 2018

with only her for a client is still entitled to attorney/client privilege with that attorney.

Nevernose

(13,081 posts)
17. Only if the attorney is doing legal work
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 04:32 PM
Apr 2018

The attorney-client privilege thing is strict for a reason, but that strictness cuts both ways. That’s the whole point of the hearing yesterday: if Cohen wasn’t doing any legal work for anybody, then there’s no privilege.

marybourg

(12,633 posts)
19. That's implicit in my use
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 06:13 PM
Apr 2018

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)
23. Not if the actions taken are of a criminal nature.
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 06:17 PM
Apr 2018

There is no privilege in this scenario...and the warrant was granted because criminal activity is alleged.

marble falls

(57,112 posts)
5. Does anybody REALLY believe that Cohen lives off the billings of two clients in a handful of ....
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 10:11 AM
Apr 2018

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.

 

RandomAccess

(5,210 posts)
10. I might have agreed with you -- before I read this
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 11:57 AM
Apr 2018

"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)
11. A guy with only two real clients isn't trying to "build up his resume"...
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 11:58 AM
Apr 2018

Ever notice how mob lawyers don't advertise for extra business?

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
13. Cohen's not Trump's big attorney, Jason Greenblatt is, or was.
Tue Apr 17, 2018, 12:08 PM
Apr 2018
Greenblatt was Trump Org's in-house council and executive vice president until Trump made him a special negotiator something in 2016. According to Bloomberg, since about 1997 the signature on every important or sensitive business deal has been Greenblatt's.

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."
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