When an accused relies on the advice of counsel defense and the prosecution asks for all communication between the two, how does the prosecution know they have been handed over all communications?

Question

When an accused relies on the advice of counsel defense and the prosecution asks for all communication between the two, how does the prosecution know they have been handed over all communications?

In: 13

Answer 1

The same way any attorney knows they’ve received everything – they don’t, and can never be certain. However, in the modern age of electronic files that contain lots of metadata, an expert can frequently figure out if there are gaps in email chains, saved documents, drafts, etc. Not only that, there are lots of places to get documents other than from the attorney or client. A third-party file backup vendor, a law firm IT consultant, a cloud storage company, etc. If the stakes are high enough, they will be subpoenaed and courts don’t look too kindly on parties that claim to have produced everything only to find instances of non-production in files obtained from another source.