If the FBI comes to your door to interview you, or escorts you to the prosecutor’s office, you certainly have a right to call a lawyer. This may seem self-serving, but it probably wouldn’t be ideal to call a civil practitioner. He or she may be great at what they do, but they don’t necessarily know the rules of engagement in the criminal game. They might not even know that it’s perfectly permissible, often precisely the right thing, to tell the FBI or other law enforcement officer to simply back off—“I’ve got nothing to say to you”—that is, unless they happen to be aficionados of TV cop shows (not quite the knowledge you want your lawyer to rely on).

But hardly anyone not in the crime business has a criminal lawyer on speed dial, and so calling the family lawyer is what may typically happen. That lawyer might not be capable of giving the client the best advice in dealing with the FBI, any more than a criminal lawyer could give valuable estate, copyright or real estate advice. Still, if he or she intends to tell the FBI to stand down (absent a warrant) that should be as efficacious as a criminal lawyer saying the exact same thing to the gendarme.

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