Over the past few years many of the initial meetings I have had with white-collar defense attorneys have followed a pattern.

After about 20 minutes, during which I outline some of the evidence, the attorney asks me, “Do you know what job I used to have?” He then gives me a sketch of his biography and politely explains that when he was a prosecutor, a case like this one surely would have been declined. The lawyer then adds that he is a close friend of some distant superior of mine.