Lawyers and their clients place great value on the concept of trust, a reliance so great that some counselors have been known to brag that they would “take a bullet” for their client rather than betray that confidence.

It was that resolution from young Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was imprisoned, tortured and beaten to death rather than falsely renounce his findings of massive corruption and theft in the government, that led his client, investment fund manager Bill Browder, into the unlikely role of human rights campaigner and bête noire of Russian President Vladimir Putin.