The Anthony Pellicano Trial: Will Patty Glaser Be a Witness or Defense Counsel?

Posted by Eriq Gardner

We noticed an interesting motion yesterday out of the Anthony Pellicano wiretapping case.

The government is opposing a motion by Terry Christensen, the well-known entertainment lawyer and one of the indicted defendants, to add his law partner Patricia Glaser to his legal team. According to the government's motion, Christensen wants Glaser as part of his team in an attempt "to use privilege to suppress from public disclosure information adverse to his potential interests."

Christensen, managing partner of LA law firm Christensen Glaser Fink Jacobs Weil & Shapiro, is accused of using private eye Pellicano to wiretap the ex-wife of client Kirk Kerkorian. Trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 27 in downtown LA.

On Jan. 25, Glaser was served with a trial subpeona. The government says that six days later she called government counsel and agreed to testify. According to the motion, she asked to know what the substance of her testimony would be, and the government declined to answer. Two days after that, Christensen's counsel notified the government that Glaser would be joining the defendant's litigation team.

The feds want Glaser, who has developed a reputation as one of the toughest entertainment litigators in town, to be disqualified from representing her partner because it violates the "advocate-witness rule," prohibiting an attorney from serving both functions.

With Glaser involved, it's a good bet this will become a hotly contested issue.

Comments

[Ben]

In California, without a warrant signed by a judge, it is crime to record a conversation without the consent of both parties, on a phone or in person, it's the same crime.

Some will say it is okay if there is no expectation of privacy. This is false.
Some will say you can record, but you just can’t use the tapes in court. This is false. It is illegal without consent of both parties. Here is the statute.

http://www.rcfp.org/taping/states/california.html