Brown, Goldstein & Levy Partner Kobie Flowers attended and spoke at the 16th Annual White-Collar Seminar & Fall Board Meeting, hosted by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers from Oct. 6 to 9 in Washington, D.C. This year’s seminar theme was “Defending the White Collar Case: In & Out of Court.”
Kobie spoke in a session on Thursday, Oct. 7 titled “Search & Siri: Challenging Decryption Orders and Warrants for Digital Devices.” He was a member of a three-person panel, joined by Upturn Senior Policy Analyst Logan Koepke and Electronic Frontier Foundation Surveillance Litigation Director Jennifer Lynch. The panel was moderated by Mike Price, the Litigation Director for the Fourth Amendment Center at NACDL.
The Fourth Amendment protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures by law enforcement. Riley v. California and similar cases have explained why the Fourth Amendment requires a warrant when law enforcement searches your digital devices. However, courts are less clear on whether compelled decryption of passcode-protected or biometric-identifier-protected devices violates the Fifth Amendment.
Kobie’s panel broke down the complexities surrounding these 21st century constitutional issues. Beyond his panel, the three-day NACDL event provided an opportunity for the white-collar defense bar to learn from each other, improve their skills, and provide the resources necessary to provide clients with the best defense possible.
About Kobie Flowers
Kobie is a trial lawyer with over twenty years of courtroom experience. He has litigated cases in federal and state courts throughout the United States and internationally in the military commissions in Guantanamo Bay. His first-chair trial experience in building cases for the government as a federal civil rights prosecutor and in fighting the government’s efforts as an assistant federal public defender provides him with an uncommon insight into trial practice. Kobie typically represents high-profile clients in high-stakes criminal investigations, civil litigation, internal investigations, or trials. Recognized by his peers for his trial acumen, Kobie teaches the art and science of trial lawyering to other trial lawyers around the country.
About the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers envisions a society where all individuals receive fair, rational and humane treatment within the criminal legal system. NACDL’s mission is to serve as a leader, alongside diverse coalitions, in identifying and reforming flaws and inequities in the criminal legal system and redressing systemic racism and ensuring that its members and others in the criminal defense bar are fully equipped to serve all accused persons at the highest level.