Defense lawyers group won't endorse participation in military

WASHINGTON -- Defense lawyers could not do their utmost to represent terrorism suspects tried before military tribunals and thus cannot ethically participate in any such trials under rules the Pentagon has laid out, the largest organization of criminal defense lawyers said Saturday.

"We took the position that it is unethical for a lawyer to represent a client under current conditions for military tribunals, and if a lawyer chose to do so, he or she must contest all of those unethical conditions," said Barry Scheck, the incoming president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

The organization will issue the ethics statement to its 11,000 members. Lawyers are not legally bound by the organization's positions, but state bar associations sometimes adopt the same reasoning for their rules.

The NACDL's board of directors voted on the matter at its annual meeting in Denver. Scheck discussed the action in a telephone interview.

The American Bar Association, the nation's largest lawyers' group, is expected to address similar concerns at its annual meeting next week.

The Pentagon has not convened any tribunals, but such panels could be used to try any of hundreds of foreign citizens held at the Guantanamo Bay naval base. The Pentagon calls those held at Guantanamo enemy combatants, and maintains that they do not have the same legal rights as U.S. citizens or those tried in ordinary U.S. civilian courts.

Anyone brought before a military tribunal will get a free military lawyer to provide legal help. At issue is whether and under what conditions outside civilian counsel could also participate.

The NACDL and other legal organizations object to several restrictions the Pentagon has placed on outside civilian lawyers. For instance, the Pentagon could listen in when the lawyer meets with a client. The Pentagon has said that is a security precaution, and that none of the information would be used by military prosecutors.

Lawyers are also worried about restrictions on where and how lawyers could meet with clients or conduct research.

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