Court & LawKeep the client's information confidential
A client tells you facts that are embarrassing or could harm them. You protect that information, share only what the representation needs, know the few cases where the rule lets or makes you reveal it, and guard the files against access by others. It follows Rule 1.6 of the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct; the NextGen bar exam lists confidentiality among the rules it tests with client counseling.
Free to startScenarios
- A client shares embarrassing details about the dispute and asks you to keep them private.
- You want to consult a lawyer at another firm about the client's case.
- The client states an intention to commit a crime reasonably certain to cause substantial bodily harm to another person.
The steps
- Protect the information covered by the attorney-client privilege and any information from the relationship that the client asked to keep inviolate, or whose disclosure would embarrass or likely harm the client.
- Reveal it only when the client consents after consultation, or when the disclosure is impliedly authorized to carry out the representation.
- Follow the client's instructions when they limit what may be disclosed, even to other lawyers in the firm.
- Before consulting another lawyer, check that they have no conflict, and discuss the case in hypothetical or abstract terms when possible.
- When an exception applies, such as complying with law or a court order, reveal no more than you reasonably believe necessary.
- Where practical, try to persuade the client to take appropriate action before any disclosure.
- If the client states an intention to commit a crime reasonably certain to cause death or substantial bodily harm to another, advise them of the legal consequences where feasible, urge them not to commit it and tell them you must reveal it unless they abandon it.
- Make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of, or access to, the client's information.
- Choose the safeguards by the sensitivity of the information, the likelihood of disclosure without them, and their cost and difficulty.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Never reveal protected information without the client's consent unless the rule allows or requires it.
- If the client does not abandon a stated crime reasonably certain to cause death or substantial bodily harm to another, promptly reveal the intention and the information needed to prevent it.
To pass
- Protected information stays confidential and is shared only with consent or implied authorization.
- Any disclosure under an exception is no greater than necessary.
- The client's files are protected with reasonable safeguards.
Official source
Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct
Rule 1.6 of the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct, with the official comments, published free by the Virginia State Bar.
Making Synapses is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by the NCBE, the American Bar Association, the Virginia State Bar or any jurisdiction. NextGen, UBE and MBE are trademarks of their respective owners and are named only to describe the exams.