what is a special counsel attorney

by Jarod Ruecker 6 min read

Special counsel is an attorney employed by the state or political subdivision to assist in a particular case when the public interest so requires. The counsel is appointed to fill a particular need. Special counsels are also referred to as special attorneys.

Full Answer

Who can appoint a special counsel?

Feb 27, 2020 · “Special counsel is a new position within the firm and recognises long serving, highly respected practitioners in the firm who demonstrate outstanding legal skills and have built reputations as trusted advisors to our clients in their specialist areas of expertise. What is counsel law? A counsel or a counsellor at law is a person who gives advice and deals with …

What does special counsel mean at a law firm?

Special counsel is an attorney employed by the state or political subdivision to assist in a particular case when the public interest so requires. The counsel is appointed to fill a particular need. Special counsels are also referred to as special attorneys.

What is the role of a special counsel?

Legal Definition of special counsel. : counsel appointed to fill a particular need specifically, capitalized : a government official charged with protecting employees from illegal practices by employers and especially from employer reprisal for whistleblowing.

How much authority does a special counsel have?

12 hours ago · “A Special Counsel would also ensure there is no bias in the investigation or undue influence from the White House. The U.S. Attorney currently has an …

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What powers does a special counsel have?

The jurisdiction of a Special Counsel shall also include the authority to investigate and prosecute federal crimes committed in the course of, and with intent to interfere with, the Special Counsel's investigation, such as perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses; and to ...

What is meant by special counsel?

Legal Definition of special counsel : counsel appointed to fill a particular need specifically, capitalized : a government official charged with protecting employees from illegal practices by employers and especially from employer reprisal for whistleblowing.

What is meant by special prosecutor?

A special prosecutor is a prosecutor who is independent of an office that would normally exercise jurisdiction in a criminal investigation—to avoid potential conflicts of interest or to facilitate subject matter area expertise.

Who heads the Office of Special Counsel?

United States Office of Special CounselAgency overviewHeadquarters1730 M Street, NW Washington, D.C.Employees122 (estimated full time equivalents; 2014)Annual budgetUS$20.639 million (2014)Agency executiveHenry Kerner, Special Counsel4 more rows

What is a special counsel in a law firm NZ?

Other roles in a law firm include special counsel, a position that sits between associate and partner used to recognise senior lawyers based on expertise, often a step towards becoming a partner; and consultants, who are like partners but without the managerial responsibilities.

What is a special advocate UK?

A Special Advocate is a specially appointed lawyer (typically, a barrister) who is instructed to represent a person's interests in relation to material that is kept secret from that person (and his ordinary lawyers) but analysed by a court or equivalent body at an adversarial hearing held in private.

Who was the special prosecutor in Watergate?

Brooksville, Maine, U.S. Archibald Cox Jr. (May 17, 1912 – May 29, 2004) was an American lawyer and law professor who served as U.S. Solicitor General under President John F. Kennedy and as a special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal.

Who is the public prosecutor of India?

Ujjwal Nikam is an Indian special public prosecutor who has worked on prominent murder and terrorism cases. He helped prosecute suspects in the 1993 Bombay bombings, the Gulshan Kumar murder case, the Pramod Mahajan murder case, and the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Who is the current special prosecutor of Ghana?

Kissi Agyebeng is a Ghanaian lawyer, academic and the Special Prosecutor of Ghana as of 2021....Kissi AgyebengBornWilliam Kissi Agyebeng 2 July 1978 GhanaEducationAccra AcademyAlma materUniversity of Ghana Ghana School of Law Schulich School of Law Cornell Law School9 more rows

What law created the Office of Special Counsel?

The Office of Special Counsel was an office of the United States Department of Justice established by provisions in the Ethics in Government Act that expired in 1999. The provisions were replaced by Department of Justice regulation 28 CFR Part 600, which created the successor office of special counsel.

What is the hatch law?

The Hatch Act of 1939, An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, is a United States federal law. Its main provision prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the president and vice president, from engaging in some forms of political activity.

Which law established the Office of Special Counsel?

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) seeks, in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, to establish a new system of records titled, ``Office of Special Counsel, OSC-4, Reasonable Accommodation Records.

What is the purpose of a special counsel?

In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict ...

What are the regulations for the appointment of a special counsel?

In 1999, the Department of Justice under Attorney General Janet Reno promulgated regulations for the future appointment of special counsels. As of 2018, these regulations remain in effect in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 28, part 600 (28 CFR §600). The regulations restrict the power to fire the special counsel into the hands of the attorney general alone, and they forbid the firing of the special counsel without good cause. They are internal Department of Justice regulations deriving their power from various acts of Congress, such as U.S. Code, Title 28, section 510 (28 U.S.C. 510). Congress has the power to directly limit the firing of special counsels or to delegate that power to the Attorney General. An agency regulation promulgated within the authority granted by statute has the force and effect of law, is binding upon the body that issues it, and can't be arbitrarily revoked.

When did the Special Counsel Act expire?

Since the expiration of the independent counsel statute in 1999 , there has been no federal statutory law governing the appointment of a special counsel. Upon the law's expiration in 1999 , the Justice Department, under Attorney General Janet Reno, promulgated procedural regulations governing the appointment of special counsels.

Who was the first federal prosecutor?

The first federal special prosecutor, John B. Henderson, was appointed by Ulysses Grant in 1875 to investigate the Whiskey Ring scandal. After attempting to stifle Henderson's investigation of the president's personal secretary, Grant fired Henderson on the basis that Henderson's statements to a grand jury regarding Grant were impertinent. Following criticism, Grant appointed a new special prosecutor, James Broadhead, to continue the investigation.

What was the Ethics in Government Act of 1978?

Inspired in part by Watergate, in 1978 Congress passed the Ethics in Government Act. Title VI of this act was known as the Special Prosecutor Act and later renamed the Independent Counsel Act, which established formal rules for the appointment of a special prosecutor. The appointment of special prosecutors varied in important ways from appointments made before and since. Majorities of either party within the House or Senate Judiciary Committee could formally request the attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor on a particular matter, but the decision of whether or not to appoint the independent counsel remained with the attorney general and was not reviewable in court. If the attorney general decided not to appoint an independent counsel in response to such a request, they were only required to respond in writing with the reasons. Although the decision to appoint a special prosecutor was still made by the attorney general, the actual selection of the special prosecutor was made by a three-judge panel called the Special Division, selected from the Courts of Appeals. The law did not allow special prosecutors to be removed except under specific circumstances such as wrongdoing or incapacitation. The special prosecutor provisions in the bill were temporary but were reauthorized by Congress in 1983 and 1987, expiring five years later in 1992; they were reinstated for another five years in 1994 before expiring again in 1999. The constitutionality of the law was affirmed by a 7–1 decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Morrison v. Olson .

Who was Nixon's attorney general?

Before his May 25, 1973, appointment as Richard Nixon 's attorney general, Elliott Richardson had agreed at his Senate confirmation hearing to appoint a Watergate special prosecutor, and so immediately on taking office appointed Archibald Cox under a special one-time regulation. As part of his investigation, in July of that year, Cox first requested and then subpoenaed the Nixon White House tapes; secret recordings Nixon had made of conversations in the Oval Office and elsewhere. The Nixon administration refused to produce the tapes citing executive privilege, and the dispute was fought in court until October.

Does Congress have the power to appoint a special counsel?

Since the expiration of the independent counsel provisions in the Ethics in Government Act in 1999, as was the case before 1978, neither Congress nor the courts have any official role in the appointment of a special counsel; however Congress can use other powers to pressure an administration into appointing a special counsel. This happened, for example, in the appointment of Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox; senators secured a promise from Attorney General nominee Richardson to appoint a Watergate special prosecutor as a condition of his confirmation. Congress also has independent authority to investigate the president and their close associates through Congressional hearings as part of its government oversight role.

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Special Counsel Law and Legal Definition

Special counsel is an attorney employed by the state or political subdivision to assist in a particular case when the public interest so requires. The counsel is appointed to fill a particular need. Special counsels are also referred to as special attorneys.

What is the role of counsel?

Of counsel is a role that is traditionally given to attorneys who are in partnership with the law office and others like and want to have around; however, it is reserved for the lawyers who traditionally do not have much business and are also not interested in working extremely hard.

What do lawyers do in law firms?

Large law firms often have lawyers who do things such as work on conflict checks and negotiate these conflicts with customers. They are often made of counsel, so they have some authority in the legal firm, but this is generally a glorified clerical-type role.

What is equity partner?

An equity partner is generally going to be someone with an excellent reputation inside and outside of the law firm who is more than capable of carrying his own weight. They are able to generate business for the law firm, able to support associates, and able to bill a tremendous number of hours.

What time does Harrison Barnes do a webinar?

Harrison Barnes does a weekly free webinar with live Q&A for attorneys and law students each Wednesday at 10:00 am PST. You can attend anonymously and ask questions about your career, this article, or any other legal career-related topics. You can sign up for the weekly webinar here: Register on Zoom.

Who is the founder of BCG?

Harrison is the founder of BCG Attorney Search and several companies in the legal employment space that collectively gets thousands of attorneys jobs each year. Harrison is widely considered the most successful recruiter in the United States and personally places multiple attorneys most weeks. His articles on legal search and placement are read by attorneys, law students and others millions of times per year.

What is Durham investigating?

Durham has been investigating misconduct by officials in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Dept. of Justice (DOJ) in the Russia collusion probe (known as Crossfire Hurricane) since he was tasked by Attorney General Barr with the investigation in October 2019.

What is a special counsel?

A special counsel is an attorney granted independent prosecutorial power to investigate matters that could create a conflict of interest for lawyers on staff at the DOJ. Special counsels have the power of any U.S.

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Overview

In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exists for the usual prosecuting authority. Other jurisdictions have similar systems. For example, the investigation of an allegation against a sitting president or attorney generalmight be handled by a special prosecutor rather than by an or…

Terminology

The terms 'special prosecutor', 'independent counsel', and 'special counsel' have the same fundamental meaning, and their use (at least at the federal level in the U.S.) is generally differentiated by the time period to which they are being applied. The term 'special prosecutor' was used throughout the Watergate era, but was replaced by the less confrontational 'independent counsel' in the 1983 reauthorization of the Ethics in Government Act. Those appoin…

United States appointment at the federal level

The first federal special prosecutor, John B. Henderson, was appointed by Ulysses Grant in 1875 to investigate the Whiskey Ring scandal. After attempting to stifle Henderson's investigation of the president's personal secretary, Grant fired Henderson on the basis that Henderson's statements to a grand jury regarding Grant were impertinent. Following criticism, Grant appointed a new special prosecutor, James Broadhead, to continue the investigation.

Legal authority

In 1999, the Department of Justiceunder Attorney General Janet Reno promulgated regulations for the future appointment of special counsels. As of 2018, these regulations remain in effect in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 28, part 600 (28 CFR §600). The regulations restrict the power to fire the special counsel into the hands of the attorney general alone, and they forbid the firing of the special counsel without good cause. They are internal Department of Justice regulations der…

At the state level

Special prosecutors are appointed in state court with greater frequency than federal, and most often in cases where a conflict of interest arises or to avoid even the appearance such a conflict exists. In local state governments, special prosecutors are appointed by a judge, government official, organization, company or group of citizens to prosecute violations of law committed by one or more governmental agents and procure indictments for actions taken under color of stat…

Further reading

• Coan, Andrew. (2019). Prosecuting the President: How Special Prosecutors Hold Presidents Accountable and Protect the Rule of Law. Oxford University Press.
• Doyle, James (1977). Not Above the Law: The Battles of Watergate Prosecutors Cox and Jaworski. New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0-688-03192-7. OCLC 496595514.

External links

• Definition on Law.com