Reed Smith's Use of PIs In Commanders' Scandal Raises Ethics Concerns

Document Type

News Article

Publication Date

12-20-2022

Abstract

[quote] Despite not being attorneys themselves, the private investigators Reed Smith hired could not contact parties the firm's lawyers knew to be represented about the same matter under legal ethics rules, said American University Washington College of Law professor Susan Carle."Private investigators don't have the right to talk to a represented party to the extent that they're working as an agent for the lawyer who's representing a party in the matter," Carle said.

"This has been a problem for some time: Lawyers who hire private investigators don't necessarily provide adequate supervision as to what methods investigators are using in an investigation," Carle said. "This is a whole other level of misconduct when investigators are seemingly, intentionally creating emotional distress in the witnesses they are conducting investigations on."

Source Publication

The Legal Intelligencer

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