The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) has posted a new report: In Breach of Privilege: Spying on Lawyers in the United States, by NLG Senior Researcher Traci Yoder. The publication provides an overview and analysis of the impact of government spying on the legal profession, especially on lawyers who represent controversial clients. Yoder demonstrates that the surveillance of lawyers has a detrimental impact on attorney-client privilege and serves to intimidate both attorneys and clients.

Surveillance of the progressive legal community has a chilling effect on dissent and diminishes the capabilities of attorneys, law firms, and legal nonprofits to defend social justice activists. Monitoring of individual attorneys and legal workers involved with high-profile clients can cause serious damage not only to their cases, but also to their personal lives and professional reputations. On a personal level, attorneys for controversial clients may end up targeted, harassed, and even imprisoned. Professionally, constant surveillance may compromise the confidence of clients in the privacy of their communications with their lawyers and diminish the effectiveness of legal counsel.

The report includes a description from Jesselyn Radack, an attorney with GAP, which represents Edward Snowden, of her experience with harassment and government surveillance.