Bruce Green was quoted in the New York Law Journal regarding President Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen’s recent guilty plea.
Michael Cohen’s admission that he lied to Congress, along with details in his recent sentencing materials, raise questions about how closely he followed the advice of his then-lawyer, a McDermott Will & Emery partner, some legal observers said.
But Cohen’s former lawyer is far from the only attorney who has had a client go astray in government interviews, said legal ethics experts, noting that strong-willed defendants have frequently lied to the government, even when represented by skilled counsel.
Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, pleaded guilty Nov. 29 to lying to Congress about the timeline of a Russian real estate project pursued by Trump. Cohen was represented by McDermott partner Stephen Ryan at the time he made the false statements.
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Some legal ethics experts and criminal defense attorneys cautioned against faulting Ryan or any other attorney representing Cohen at the time of the false statement. It would be hard, without knowing more facts, “to think it’s the lawyer’s negligence and not the client’s wrongdoing,” said Bruce Green, an ethics professor at Fordham Law School.
