Keeping Tabs - Winter 2022

FUN FEATURE
Advice for Cousin Greg
Carlo di Carlo, Stockwoods LLP, and
Patrick MacDonald, City of Hamilton
As fans of HBO’s hit TV series Succession know, the character Cousin Greg
(a.k.a. Greg the Egg) has found himself in several unfortunate situations
where he desperately needed legal advice. Two of our editors intervene to
try to provide Greg with some much needed assistance. All quotes are from
Cousin Greg, unless otherwise noted.
“If it is to be said. So it be. So it is.”
CD: This first scenario is from Cousin Greg’s testimony before Congress
where Greg essentially spouted a bunch of gibberish. Greg was poorly
served here by the lawyer who prepped him. His testimony here violates
a key witness prep tip: always be as concise as possible and answer questions
as directly as possible.
PM: I’ll go a step further. A good lawyer would prep him to answer the questions.
A great lawyer would tell him to decline to answer on the basis of
the Fifth Amendment wherever possible, even if there’s no basis to claim
that right when being questioned in that particular forum. Keep in mind that
while similar, Section 13 of the Charter does not have the same scope as the
Fifth Amendment, nor is it as cool to say as, “I Plead the Fifth.”
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