“Subpoenas are an odd and vestigial creature of the law. Corp counsel is right that any idiot lawyer can issue one, and does.”

Sure, for civil subpoenas. However, as with many other areas of trial procedure, it works differently in criminal cases.

So a subpoena is really just a scary, official-looking piece of paper that a lawyer uses as an information-gathering tool. Other lawyers know you can move to quash them, and that happens.

Most of the time, however, the issuance of a subpoena can set up judicial intervention. Example: I subpoena documents. They aren’t delivered. So I make a motion to the judge for enforcement of the subpoena. And if the judge agrees, that’s when fines, imprisonment or other sanctions can really kick in.

I could simply request them by informal e-mail, letter or phone call, but people don’t usually take that seriously, as the DA in New Orleans has discovered.

And, often, parties ascribe magic to subpoenas: an institution won’t provide documents “without a subpoena”, because this apparently provides a legal fig leaf in the event a challenge hits, like a HIPAA violation, another lawsuit, etc.

I tend to doubt that your civil subpoenas carry the following warning which was on the Orleans DA’s subpoenas.

“A FINE AND IMPRISONMENT MAY BE IMPOSED FOR FAILURE TO OBEY THIS NOTICE”