A lawyer’s ability to vigorously represent his or her clients currently is under attack by the federal government. Particularly in the tax and estate planning contexts, administrative regulations now intrude into and attempt to curtail attorney-client communications. These regulations cause lawyers to under-represent clients, and ultimately have a deleterious effect on the entire legal profession. In the 2007 Philip A. Blank Memorial Lecture, Jonathan G. Blattmachr, Esq.,  will explore how the executive branch may be exceeding its authority in attempting to control aspects of the attorney-client relationship. Actions by the executive branch both undermine the vitality of the legislative and judicial branches of government and, ironically, harm the executive branch itself. Overreaching regulations, especially relating to the attorney-client relationship, can be read as a kind of suicide of the guardians. To preserve the most fundamental freedoms of our profession and our nation, all lawyers must understand the consequences of the executive branch’s attempt to aggregate power to itself.