This Criminal Crime Reporter article reports on the talk that one of Richard Scrushy’s attorneys — Jim Jenkins of Atlanta, Ga. — gave at the at the recent National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers – Georgetown University White Collar Crime conference. The article provides a fascinating glimpse of the behind-the-scenes story of how the Scrushy defense team developed and implemented its defense of Mr. Scrushy against the government’s charges. Previous posts on the Scrushy case may be reviewed here, here, here and here.
Hat tip to Ellen Podgor for the link to the piece on Mr. Jenkins’ talk, which she notes was “the most popular event” at the conference. I can see why, as the article relates numerous solid observations regarding defending a complex business case, the most important of which is to communicate with integrity a simple and straightforward theory of the case to the jury, and to remind the jury of that theory throughout the trial. Cases such as the Scrushy case are nearly impossible to win in the court of public opinion, but — even with the overwhelming odds in favor of the prosecution in such cases — they can be won in the courtroom.

Robert Weisberg is Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law and director of the Criminal Justice Center at Stanford University, where he teaches a course on white collar crime with David Mills, who is a senior lecturer there. In this Wall Street Journal ($) op-ed, Messrs. Weisberg and Mills dissect the Justice Department’s indictment against eight former KPMG partners for their involvement in advising and promoting allegedly illegal tax shelters for clients of the firm. Messrs. Weisberg and Mills point out that there is just one small problem with the indictment:

In the months leading up to it (and the now-rumored indictment of other tax advisors on similar grounds), numerous news stories suggested the KPMG accountants had somehow knowingly participated in tax fraud by creating fake losses for wealthy clients. Whether or not this proves true, the indictment makes no such allegation.

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