Law Commons^™

The Law Office Search: An Emerging Problem And Some Suggested Solutions, Lackland H. Bloom Jr.

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

A law office search threatens the attorney-client relationship by jeopardizing values protected by the fourth, fifth, and sixth amendments. After reviewing recent developments that underlie the sudden emergence of the law office search, Professor Bloom examines the nature of this threat and suggests that the values of the attorney-client relationship can be reconciled with the needs of law enforcement by requiring the police to use a subpoena rather than a search warrant when seeking documentary evidence from an attorney. Professor Bloom considers whether this "subpoena preference rule" either is required by the fourth amendment or can be implemented by nonconstitutional …