Have any of you returned home from a trip to find this in your checked luggage? I did today when I went to unpack my suitcase after my trip to Omaha. My problem with it is that I don't believe it's random. Security searched my bag on my out-bound trip (details here) -- what are the chances that 24 hours later, a surreptitious search of the same bag, this time checked, is random? There must have been some kind of coding that flagged it after the outbound flight.

This is particularly odious for traveling lawyers, most of whom are probably like me. On the outbound flight, our client files are in our carry-on luggage. We either want to review them during the flight or know we will need them immediately upon our arrival and can't take a chance on them being delayed or lost by the airline. On the return, however, rather than lug them, we check them.

But those files contain notes we made while meeting with our clients or expert witnesses, print-outs of case-related emails or memos with defense strategy. They are protected by the attorney-client and work-product privileges. In a high-profile case, what's to prevent the TSA officer from scanning them and sending them on to the Justice Department?

Suffice it to say from hereon out I will probably use fedex to return the files rather than check them in my luggage. But for those occasions where there isn't time, I'm going to create a lawyer's version of the TalkLeft 4th Amendment Subway Tote which I will pack on top of the contents of my suitcase. It will contain a warning to TSA that should any of the material in my suitcase wind up in the hands of the Government, they will be responsible for my motion to suppress and the likelihood that someone the Government regards as a serious criminal is likely to walk free. The final line on the tote will be: "Go ahead, make my day."