# If a defense attorney's office might be raided...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-defense-attorneys-office-might-be-raided/812310>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 12, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-defense-attorneys-office-might-be-raided/812310 "2018-04-12T18:24:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-defense-attorneys-office-might-be-raided/812310/1 "2018-04-12T18:24:57Z")

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Can a defense attorney purposely not write down something which might be used against their client? Can a defense attorney write down all sorts of fake stuff on the off chance their office will be raided (with no attempts to get anyone to believe it)? Certainly a defense attorney could also be a novelist. Would he be required to segragate his work? Would he be required to explain which is which?

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**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-defense-attorneys-office-might-be-raided/812310/2 "2018-04-12T19:29:24Z")

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“I swear, your honor, I was only writing a novel where I used all these actual people, and myself, as characters that were doing almost exactly the same things as we do, except for the illegal bits. Those I made up.”

Can’t see how it would be illegal. Don’t think it would be much of a defense though, unless there was zero other evidence of the “illegal bits”.

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**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-defense-attorneys-office-might-be-raided/812310/3 "2018-04-12T19:33:31Z")

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> [@naita](#):
>
> “I swear, your honor, I was only writing a novel where I used all these actual people, and myself, as characters that were doing almost exactly the same things as we do, except for the illegal bits. Those I made up.”
> 
> Can’t see how it would be illegal. Don’t think it would be much of a defense though, unless there was zero other evidence of the “illegal bits”.

He is hypothetically only fabricating exonerating info.