“I fully support Attorney General Coakley’s efforts to protect our citizens, but we must be careful about going down a slippery slope where the government can become privy to confidential conversation,” said Douglas Sheff, incoming president of the Massachusetts Bar Association and senior partner at Sheff Law. “An attorney- client discussion is sacrosanct, and listening in would be the equivalent of letting someone into the confessional booth.”

Sheff said he is also worried that defendants may not be fully truthful with their lawyers if they fear their e-mail would be seized. “And that in fact could send innocent people to jail,” he said.