????雖然人人都有權聘請律師為自己伸張法律權利，但任何人都無權找律師幫助自己完成一起未遂的犯罪行為。

????在今晨于紐約聯邦法庭舉行的一場訴訟聽證會上，石油巨頭雪佛龍公司（Chevron Corp）指控具有政治聯系、擁有500名律師的巴頓博格斯律師事務所（Patton Boggs）違反了這一基本規則。雪佛龍聲稱，這家事務所協助狡詐的原告律師，試圖勒索該公司巨額資金。對于任何一家律師事務所來說，這都是一種不同尋常的控訴，更不用說針對的是一家位列美國律所百強（AmLaw 100）行列、在華盛頓特區頗具影響力的游說及政治公共公司了（巴頓博格斯律師事務所的選舉法專家本?金斯伯格目前在共和黨總統候選人米特?羅姆尼的競選團隊中擔任高級顧問一職。然而，金斯伯格本人并不涉及本文討論的爭端）。

????雪佛龍公司的怒火源自巴頓博格斯律師事務所參與的一起曠日持久的環保訴訟案：2003年，這家事務所代表亞馬遜河熱帶雨林居民在厄瓜多爾拉戈阿格里奧省向雪佛龍公司提起訴訟。起訴書聲稱，一家隸屬于德士古公司（Texaco，2001年被雪佛龍收購）的公司在1964年至1990年期間使用劣質的鉆井方法，污染了原告一方賴以生存的河流和水井。2011年2月，根據一家厄瓜多爾省級法庭的裁決，原告方將獲得一筆價值182億美元的賠償金。現在，他們正在尋求其他國家的法庭執行這項判決，因為雪佛龍公司在厄瓜多爾并無財產。

????這起案件致命的地方在于，曼哈頓聯邦法官劉易斯?卡普蘭在7月份裁定，根據“未被反駁的證據”，代表拉戈阿格里奧省原告的美國律師史蒂芬?唐奇格及其同伴厄瓜多爾律師巴勃羅?法哈多精心策劃的欺詐行為“毫無疑問玷污了”這起案件（至少還有5位美國聯邦地區法官發現了欺詐行為玷污原告案件的“表面證據”，一個聯邦上訴委員會也有類似更具試探性質的發現）。

????對于巴頓博格斯律師事務所來說，最棘手的部分在于，自2010年以來，與唐奇格和法哈多一起參與此案的是巴頓博格斯律師事務所合伙人小詹姆斯?E?泰瑞爾，后者不僅是該律所紐約和新澤西辦事處的執行合伙人，還是其執行委員會的成員之一。

????6月份，由Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher律師事務所的蘭迪?M?馬斯特羅領銜的雪佛龍公司律師團向巴頓博格斯律師事務所送達了一份長43頁的傳票，要求該律師事務所移交長達數千萬頁、詳細記錄其在這起案件中所扮演的角色的卷宗。今晨，卡普蘭法官將主持一場聽證會，商討巴頓博格斯律師事務所提議撤銷該傳票的要求。

????巴頓博格斯律師事務所抗議稱，它沒有做錯任何事，雪佛龍公司試圖恐嚇它不要幫助具有合理主張的原告追索其合法權益。

????“如果有人鄭重其事地聲稱，擁有50年歷史的巴頓博格斯律師事務所會為了一群厄瓜多爾人提出的、我們非常認同的主張，不惜拿我們的職業聲譽去冒險，甚至甘愿參與……欺詐?”在去年7月份于華盛頓特區舉行的一起相關的庭審程序上，巴頓博格斯律師事務所的泰瑞爾對一位聯邦法官說。“我愿意把我在紐約的一座橋賣給他們。”

????昨天中午，本文作者向泰瑞爾和巴頓博格斯律師事務所外聘律師紐約Leader & Berkon律師事務所的阿莉莎?楊發送了一份長2,000字的電子郵件，泰瑞爾打來電話回應稱，他不在辦公室，沒有機會詳細審閱郵件內容（進而趕不上本文的發表）。但他的確迅速地回答了幾個問題。

????雪佛龍公司的傳票與該公司2001年向唐奇格、法哈多，以及該團隊聘請的環境顧問丹佛層云咨詢公司（Stratus Consulting）提出的民事訴訟有關，雪佛龍公司指控他們違反了《反受勒索影響和腐敗組織法》（Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, 簡稱RICO）的相關規定。去年5月，卡普蘭法官否決了被告方撤銷此案的要求，他發現，如被證實，雪佛龍公司其實就是在指控被告犯有刑事勒索、郵件和電信欺詐、洗錢、妨礙司法公正和篡改證詞等罪行。唐奇格和層云咨詢公司否認自己行為不當，法哈多沒有出庭。

????譯者：任文科

????While everyone is entitled to a lawyer to help him pursue his legal rights, no one is entitled to a lawyer to help him complete a crime in progress.

????In a hearing this morning in a federal suit in New York, oil giant Chevron Corp. is accusing the politically connected, 500-attorney law firm of Patton Boggs of having violated that basic rule by assisting crooked plaintiffs lawyers who are attempting to shake the company down. It's an extraordinary claim to level at any law firm, let alone at an AmLaw 100 firm which is one of the leading lobbying and government-relations shops in Washington, D.C. (Patton Boggs's election law expert, Ben Ginsberg, is currently acting as national counsel to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Ginsberg is not personally involved in the disputes that are the subject of this article, however.)

????Chevron's gripe arises from Patton Boggs's involvement in the long-running environmental suit that was filed against Chevron in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, in 2003 on behalf of Amazon rainforest inhabitants. The suit claims that a subsidiary of Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron in 2001, contaminated the rivers and wells the plaintiffs relied on for sustenance by employing shoddy drilling practices between 1964 and 1990. In February 2011 the plaintiffs won an $18.2 billion judgment in the case from an Ecuadorian provincial court, which they are now seeking to enforce in the courts of other countries, because Chevron has no assets in Ecuador.

????The big fly in the ointment is that Manhattan federal judge Lewis Kaplan ruled in July that, judging from "uncontradicted evidence," the Lago Agrio plaintiffs' case has been "unquestionably … tainted" by an elaborate fraud committed by their lead U.S. lawyer Steven Donziger and his Ecuadorian co-counsel Pablo Fajardo. (At least five other U.S. federal district judges have also found "prima facie" evidence of fraud tainting the plaintiffs' case—a more tentative finding—as has one federal appeals panel.)

????The tricky part for Patton Boggs is that, since 2010, Donziger's and Fajardo's co-captain on the case has been Patton Boggs partner James E. Tyrrell, Jr., the regional managing partner for its New York and New Jersey offices and a member of its executive committee.

????In June, Chevron's lawyers, led by Randy M. Mastro of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, served a 43-page subpoena on Patton Boggs, demanding that it turn over tens of millions of pages of documents detailing its role in the case. A hearing on Patton Boggs's motion to quash the subpoena is set for this morning before Judge Kaplan.

????Patton Boggs protests that it's done nothing wrong, and that Chevron (CVX) is trying to intimidate it out of helping worthy plaintiffs pursue a legitimate cause.

????"If someone seriously suggests that the 50-year-old law firm of Patton Boggs would wreck, would risk its professional reputation for a group of Ecuadorians whose case we feel strongly about, but that we would be involved in a . . . fraud," Patton Boggs's Tyrrell told a federal judge in a related proceeding in Washington, D.C., last July, "I have a bridge in New York I might like to try to sell them as well."

????In response to a 2000-word email concerning this story sent yesterday at midday to both Tyrrell and Patton Boggs's outside counsel S. Alyssa Young, of New York's Leader & Berkon, Tyrrell phoned to say he was out of the office and would not have a chance to closely review the email in time for this article. He did answer a few quick questions, however, as will be noted where relevant.

????Chevron's subpoena was served in connection with a civil suit it filed in February 2011 against Donziger, Fajardo, and the team's Denver-based environmental experts, Stratus Consulting, among others, accusing them of violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Last May Judge Kaplan denied the defendants' motions to dismiss, finding that Chevron's allegations, if proven, would indeed amount to criminal extortion, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. Donziger and Stratus have denied wrongdoing; Fajardo defaulted by failing to appear.