So, you’ve heard the one the place the emperor has no garments, however what in regards to the one the place the lawyer has no pc?
How within the yr of our Lord two thousand and twenty freaking 4, can an lawyer count on to supply counsel to their purchasers with out entry to a pc? Hell, it isn’t even a assets situation anymore — you will get a pc for just a few hundred {dollars} as of late. It’s actually only a query of fundamental technological competence.
This situation comes up as the newest tidbit from the authorized woes of Donald Trump. It occurred within the federal paperwork case earlier than Decide Aileen Cannon, the place the previous president and two co-defendants are accused of mishandling categorized paperwork. The protection is alleging the prosecution is engaged in discovery shenanigans by failing to supply supplies that will reveal political bias within the prosecution.
Particular prosecutor Jack Smith disagrees vehemently with these accusations. The prosecution’s newest submitting hits again saying the supplies the protection seeks are “non-discoverable supplies primarily based on speculative, unsupported, and false theories of political bias and animus.” Certainly, the federal government has gone above and past to ensure the protection has entry to discovery supplies.
In response to the submitting, the lawyer for one of many defendants, Carlos De Oliveira, doesn’t have a pc — neither desktop nor laptop computer — to evaluate discovery supplies on. The lawyer was trying to evaluate the CCTV footage offered by the prosecution on a handheld pill. What within the precise what? Who thinks they’ll significantly conduct discovery on an iPad? Perhaps you’ll be able to have a look at a doc right here or there on a pill, however you could have a pc to do the heavy lifting of evaluate.
However that was not one thing De Oliveira’s lawyer was ready to do. So the federal government LOANED HIM A LAPTOP, and so they “hand-delivered a pc to him.” And so they acted as his private tech help “offering suggestions and examples, and providing to arrange calls,” when points arose.
That is all simply wild.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Legislation, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Considering Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are one of the best, so please join along with her. Be at liberty to e-mail her with any suggestions, questions, or feedback and comply with her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
