Sunday, May 20, 2007 A hit-and-run. No witnesses. A phone-call confession by a driver who refuses to disclose his identity to his attorney.
What's in a name, and is it protected by the sanctity of the attorney-client privilege? Attorney Ken Isaacson of Morristown spins the imbalanced wheels of justice in his novel "Silent Counsel" (Windermere Press, $24.95).
"I was reading about a real hit-and-run case in Florida that never actually reached the court," he said. "I wanted to take the situation one step further and explore what if a court held a name as privileged information." A full-time attorney by day, Isaacson's "what if," took "many, many years" to complete, he said.
"It was always on hold, but I always went back to it," he said. A first book for Isaacson, the 332-page thriller is chock full of painstaking scenarios that challenge the legal system and tug at the heart. Case in point: Altman vs.
John Doe. Attorney Scott Heller is hired by the driver, John Doe, to negotiate a plea arrangement with the prosecutor. "Some exceptions are if the client tells the attorney he or she is going to commit a crime or harm someone.
Other than that, the attorney may not reveal the information without the client's consent. "Virtually everything that a client tells an attorney is subject to the attorney client privilege," said David Rosen, a professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Florham Park. "So, if in this case the client told the attorney the name of the suspect or admitted that he/she was the suspect, or admitted that he/she had committed a crime, the attorney could not reveal it to anyone and certainly not a court, unless the client waives the privilege.
" The privilege empowers the client, in this case John Doe, who gives the go ahead to reveal the information. Governed by grief and frustrated with the attorney-client privilege "glitch," Stacy takes matters -- and Scott and Jody Heller's daughter -- into her own hands: Anything to expose the identity of the man who ran over her only child and bring him to justice. Intrigued by the Florida hit-and-run case, Isaacson set out to explore situations where revealing the client's name exposes him or her to legal consequences.
"The driver hired a lawyer to negotiate a plea deal, but he instructed his attorney not to reveal his name," Isaacson said. "That got me thinking. What circumstances will the court withhold the name of a client as protected by the attorney/client privilege?
In most instances, the name does not convey substance." The Florida case was resolved when the driver came forward and revealed himself. The driver in "Silent Counsel" however may -- or may not.
(Apply spoiler protection clause here.) The Garden State-based novel takes readers to familiar turf such as Englewood Cliffs, home of the Hellers, and Perth Amboy, home of the Altmans. It even gives mention to fictitious newspapers such as the Middlesex Herald.
Born and raised in Perth Amboy, he attended MIT for his undergraduate degree and Columbia University for his law degree. Having practiced privately for 20 plus years, Isaacson never personally dealt with a case quite like Altman vs. Doe.
Now an in-house counselor for a transportation company, Isaacson gets to add published author to his resume. Providing assists to "local talent," Mendham Books is one such book store that will carry "Silent Counsel," owner Tom Williams said. "This book is right up my alley," he said.
"I like the thrillers." In a niche-oriented publishing world, legal thrillers are still thriving, Williams said. "John Grisham really popularized the legal thriller, and they're still popular," he said.
"These books are usually character-driven and you can visualize the plot. Plus there's a personal element to them. Everyone deals with the law.
" Those who deal closely with Isaacson have advanced-digested the novel. The attorney-friend privilege benefited Dr. Wesley Bank of New York.
"I helped him with some of the medical aspects in the book," said Bank, an obstetrician and gynecologist. "I don't want to give away anything else, but it involves Stacy." Having a weakness for mathematical reads, Bank swapped out numbers for words to critique Isaacson's finished product.
"It reminded me of 'The Firm,'" he said. "I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The characters just come to life.
" Isaacson's wife, Sylvia, could attest to that. "The way he developed the little girl Alex," she said. "The way she (Alex) talks, I can hear my grandchildren talk like that.
Then there's the relationship between her and Stacy...
" She recalls her husband's crack-of-dawn waking hour -- 4 a.m., when he would hunker down and make use of his most creative time.
At the receiving end of his chapters, avid reader Sylvia would pore over each page and hunger for the next. "If something captivates me in the first chapter I'll read it straight through," she said. "It was frustrating because after he finished each chapter I would want to find out what happened.
" "As a mother the book challenges as to how far you would go for your child," she said. To some extent, Stacy -- the mother in mourning -- mirrored the nanny, Peyton, in the 1992 movie thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle." (The film involved an OB/GYN widow who is hired by a family as nanny only to seek revenge for her husband's suicide.
) Isaacson, however, developed his characters from his heart and mind. When he is not providing counsel or writing novels (yes, a second book is in the works) Isaacson may be found find riding -- as in his-and-her Harleys -- or walking his bichon.
Ellen S.
Wilkowe can be reached at 973-428-6662 or .
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