Can lawyers talk about cases with their spouses?

Under the attorney-client privilege, lawyers cannot divulge the details of anything their clients tell them in a court of law. In addition to that, The Duty of Confidentiality protects clients from having their lawyers casually discuss the private details of their case outside of court. Rule 1.6 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, for example, states: “A lawyer shall not disclose information related to the representation of a client. It depends on the legal matter.

We live in a small community, and most of my clients are people my wife knows. It would be very unethical for me to go into details, because the risk of her identifying a client with a very, sensitive legal matter, even from abstract information is great. Like, for example, a family friend who recently consulted me about a possible divorce, unbeknownst to his wife, where my wife is in some social groups with her wife. Simple precautions can be taken to preserve privileges that belong to the customer.

These steps let the customer know that you are worried and professional. First, clearly, any conversation with the client about the facts of the case must occur in private, with the presence of no one other than the lawyer and the client (of course, the statute allows assistant lawyers to be present). The client can, in the privacy of his conference room or home, as long as he is alone with his spouse, talk about what was discussed in the privacy of his office. However, the client should be warned about the various permutations of how the privilege that protects his conversations with the spouse can be waived.

Second, when the spouse is present at your office to discuss the case, another lawyer or paralegal from your office should (ideally) be present. If the conversation with the spouse is discussed, you and your client will have a witness to present who can testify to the unprivileged nature of the conversations with the spouse. Thirdly, timesheets or notes of the day on which the time spent on each case should indicate the duration and nature of each conference, including who was present. If a dispute arises later, your company records may be used to demonstrate that privileged communications did not occur while a spouse or third party was present.

Finally, and more easily available to all lawyers, is to indicate in the notes made during the client meetings, who was present and what issues were discussed. Again, keeping separate notes of client conferences and subsequent meetings with a spouse is essential so that the privileged nature of your communications with the client does not need to be examined by the court (or worse, by the state attorney). In other words, an attorney is prohibited from sharing any information about his legal work for a client at any time and with anyone. This general rule is subject to some limited exceptions, none of which provide a confidentiality “free pass” for spouses or significant others.

In fact, the commentary to this rule clarifies that “a lawyer should avoid indiscreet conversations and other communications, including with the lawyer's spouse or family, about a client's affairs. Similarly, a client may lose attorney-client privilege by repeating a conversation with an attorney with another person or by having a third person present during a conversation with the lawyer. Now, there is only one additional notice that Canadian law societies can and will (in some cases) discipline lawyers for failing to meet their obligations in this regard. Your lawyer can't get the driver's insurance company to settle the amount you request, so you file a personal injury lawsuit for the other driver's negligence.

You know that I represent someone because they asked for my information, or you referred them to me, or you mentioned that you wanted to talk to me about something. To find an attorney representing your personal injury claim, see the Enjuris Personal Injury Law Firm Directory. However, regardless of who hears or learns of a communication, counsel is usually still obliged not to repeat it. Rule 1.6 contains some exceptions, especially when a lawyer reasonably believes that breaching trust is necessary to prevent death or serious injury, or to protect his own legal interests in connection with a case.

The information provided on this site does not constitute legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no attorney-client or confidential relationship is and will not be formed through the use of the site. The Court rejected counsel's explanation, finding that he “intentionally disclosed, for distorted or insensitive purposes, the extremely sensitive, personal and confidential information of his clients (para. In practice, a lawyer will only be punished by the bar association if they cause harm to their client, or by the courts if they pervert the course of justice. In the English case, the lawyer did not disclose information to his wife, but rather to his wife's friend.

The topic of lawyer confidentiality often generates lively discussions when teaching legal ethics to law students. I had a complicated federal transit case that very few lawyers were skilled enough to complete effectively. You are not satisfied with the amount of money offered to you by the other driver's insurance company, so you hire a personal injury lawyer to try to get a larger settlement. The decision also reports that, once, when emailing an affidavit from a client to his former spouse, the lawyer titled the email “Reading Before Sleep.

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