He needs one

Deborah Orin and Lukas Alpert:

Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was shopping for a top-flight criminal-defense lawyer yesterday, even as experts were scratching their heads over how exactly he landed in a legal mess that could send him to prison for 30 years.

Libby, himself a lawyer, had relied on Joe Tate, an expert in intellectual-property law, for advice during the investigation that led to his being indicted Friday on five counts.

A source told The Post that Libby was seeking more formidable representation but that he was unlikely to jettison Tate.

Libby is charged with lying under oath, obstructing justice and making false statements to a grand jury about how he learned the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Veteran Washington defense attorney Joe diGenova said his No. 1 advice to any defendant is: "You're not going to lie. Either you're going to take the Fifth [Amendment, against self-incrimination] or you're going to tell the truth."

Joe diGenova would be a good choice. As I stated earlier, Libby's attorney did not do a good job of preparing him for testifying. A good lawyer would have his client go over all relevant documents and refresh his recollection about what he was thinking or doing when he said certain things in the past. It is hard to imagine that a good lawyer would not have prepared him to answer questions consistent with his previous written statements. You can cave a different recollection of a conversation. That happens all the time. It is hard to make a perjury case based on these differences of recollection. His own notes of conversations make that much more difficult.

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