February 16, 2014 By Robert Amsterdam

The NSA and Attorney-Client Privilege

PineGap-signLast night’s cover story in the New York Times regarding Edward Snowden’s latest leak highlights a lingering concern for many in the legal community.

According to a top-secret document released by Snowden, the NSA – via their Five Eyes partner, the Australian Signals Directorate – spied on a U.S. law firm representing Indonesia in a trade dispute with the United States.  The law firm was not named in the document, however Mayer Brown of Chicago was advising Indonesia at the time.

The Australians warned an NSA liaison office that the monitoring of these talks may include “information covered by attorney-client privilege,” but the U.S. insisted that the spying continue nonetheless.