independent counsel
A US legal and political term for a special prosecutor — an attorney appointed independently of the executive branch to investigate potential government wrongdoing.
Definitions
A US legal and political term for a special prosecutor — an attorney appointed independently of the executive branch to investigate potential government wrongdoing. The Independent Counsel statute (Ethics in Government Act) was in force from 1978 to 1999 and produced several major investigations including those of Iran-Contra and the Clinton-Lewinsky affair. The role is now fulfilled by special counsels appointed under different statutory authority.
The independent counsel's report ran to hundreds of pages and took three years to complete.
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(US, law, politics) A special prosecutor.
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- counselor54%
(legal) An attorney.
- King's Counsel54%
(UK, historic) A barrister or advocate appointed by the Crown during the reign of a king.
- Queen's Counsel54%
(UK, historic) A barrister or advocate appointed by the Crown during the reign of a queen.
- Crown prosecutor53%
(British, Canadian, Australian) The state prosecutor; the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual in a criminal trial.