And this is why people don't trust lawyers..

You may or not have heard of Prenda Law.. it's a US law firm that has been pursuing alleged movie downloaders for copyright violations. But it won't reveal who it's clients are, leading to allegations that Prenda is up to some shenanigans.

Anyway.. it's a fascinating story even for non-lawyers, but it all came to a head when a judge dragged them into court and asked them to explain themselves. And they took the fifth. Ken at Popehat writes about the latest episode in this saga here.. but you've just got to love the summary of just how scandalous this is part way down:

In effect, the responsible lawyers for a law firm conducting litigation before a court have refused to explain that litigation to the court on the grounds that doing so could expose them to criminal prosecution.

I mean.. holy crap. It's worth reading that again just to understand what some lawyers are prepared to sink to. Their mothers must be very proud of them.