Personal Injury Law

Attorney Who Advises Client To Take An Action Believing It, In Good Faith, To Be Legal Does Not Lose First Amendment Protection If The Advice Is Later Determined To Be Incorrect

It may be hard to find a more eloquent and impassioned defense of the rights of an attorney to give, and a client to receive, advice of counsel than in the decision in Vinluan v. Doyle, — N.Y.S.2d —-, 2009 WL 93065 (Appellate Division, 2nd Department, January 13, 2009). The matter involved a petition for Article 78 review brought on by a group of nurses and their attorney to prohibit the Suffolk County district attorney from prosecuting, and Supreme Court justice from presiding over, a criminal case against ten nurses, who were indicted for the misdemeanor offenses of conspiracy in the sixth degree, endangering the welfare of a child, and endangering the welfare of a physically-disabled person. The prosecution came in the aftermath of their simultaneous resignations from positions at a Long Island nursing home. The attorney who provided these nurses with legal advice was also indicted for allegedly advising them to commit a crime.

Full post as published by Legal Blog on January 24, 2009 (boomark / email).