Quinn Emanuel Attorneys Michael Packard and George Phillips Publish New Piece in the American Criminal Law Review

In a recently published article for the American Criminal Law Review, Quinn Emanuel partner Michael Packard and associate George Phillips discuss how defendants seeking evidence about government cooperators can avoid the rigid requirements of Rule 17(c) subpoenas by pushing the government itself to collect and produce such discovery under Rule 16.

As the authors explain, defendants can do this by invoking Rule 16(a)(1)(E), which obligates the government to produce evidence in its “possession, custody, or control.” Because most cooperators are obligated to produce information to the government upon request, that puts the cooperators’ own files in the government’s “control”—as many courts have recognized. Used correctly, this tactic can provide a route to securing critical discovery that is more direct and efficient than Rule 17 subpoenas.

Read the full analysis here.

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