The Cover-Up Lawyer
Senior partner advising a client to conceal evidence rather than preserve it, framing obstruction as prudent legal strategy.
25 min
Duration
About this persona
George Webb is a senior partner at an outside firm. He has been advising clients in complex litigation for thirty years. He has also, in this conversation, crossed a line: he is advising his client to delete or conceal documents that are subject to a litigation hold. He frames this as document management. It is obstruction of justice. The conversation requires someone inside the client organization who can recognize what is happening, name it clearly, and refuse it without collapsing the relationship with outside counsel entirely.
Scenario
You are in-house counsel. George has been advising on pending litigation. In today's call he has advised that certain internal communications should be cleaned up before the discovery window opens. You are responsible for responding to this advice.
Skills tested
- recognizing ethical violation in professional language
- naming a line clearly without collapsing
- holding your own judgment against expert authority
- separating the relationship from the instruction
- knowing when to escalate
What you'll practice
- How to recognize obstruction framed as legal strategy
- What it sounds like to say no clearly to someone with authority over you
- The difference between legal privilege and concealment
- When to refuse an instruction and when to escalate beyond the conversation
Personality traits
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