Shadow counsel or a shadow lawyer is a term used in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

to mean an appointed, duplicate

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

as an auxiliary or alternate, should the original lawyer (or legal team) fail in some way. Shadow counsel is a legal term referring to a second lawyer that is appointed in secrecy to protect a witness from the other defendants who may be sharing the same lawyer (and thus, the known appointed lawyer is biased). Such a situation could be a drug conspiracy or people forced into being accomplices by a mob leader. Shadow counsel advises in the best interests of the witness. Lawyer and former prosecutor and judge

Leslie Crocker Snyder Leslie Crocker Snyder (born 1942) is an Americans, American lawyer and former judge, most notable for her challenge of Robert Morgenthau in the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party primary election, primary for the Manhattan Distri ...

invoked the privilege for a defendant whose trial she presided over so he could be safe as an informant against a drug ring leader he was afraid would replace his counsel. Despite its full legal allowance, Snyder faced serious backlash from opposition deliberately being uninformed in the interest of maintaining the trial's security. Some fictional, yet informative, examples would be the ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

'' episode "Shadow" (

season 8 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In tempera ...

, episode 8) and the '' Law & Order: SVU'' episode "Ace" ( season 11, episode 22). Snyder was a consultant for the franchise and even guest appearances in ''Law & Order''.The concept also appeared in Season 5 of ''

The Practice ''The Practice'' is an American legal drama television series created by David E. Kelley centering on partners and associates at a Boston law firm. The show ran for eight seasons on ABC, from March 4, 1997, to May 16, 2004. It won an Emmy in 1 ...

'', episode 10 "Friends and Ex-Lovers."

References

External links

Law and Order: SVU Season 11, Episode 22_Ace The Practice Season 5, Episode 10 - Friends and Ex-Lovers
Lawyers by type {{Law-term-stub