ABA Debates Confidentiality Considerations
The evolution of lawyer ethical standards is an ongoing process. The profession is constantly reviewing and updating the standards governing the conduct of lawyers in the light of contemporary experience. At the American Bar Association convention in San Francisco during the week of August 4, leading scholars on legal ethics will be debating whether revisions to the Rules of Professional Conduct regarding confidentiality are needed in the aftermath of corporate scandals that have occurred in recent years. Jason Hoppen of The Recorder summarizes the issues as follows:
The ABA has actually considered two of the three proposals before. They deal very specifically with reporting financial crimes in a corporate environment -- including alerting senior management that something within a company is afoot. Similar proposals were defeated last year.
But a third, new proposal has stirred controversy. It would allow lawyers to report financial crimes outside their clients' corporate structure -- in essence, to inform on their clients to law enforcement or regulatory bodies.
Read his article about the debate here.
On August 11, 2003, the ABA House of Delegates, by a narrow 218-201 margin, voted to endorse a rule change allowing lawyers to reveal otherwise confidential information where the client has used the lawyer's advice to commit a crime or fraud. However, the rule change will not become effective in Pennsylvania unless the revised language is adopted and incorporated into the Rules of Professional Conduct by the Supreme Court. An article on the vote may be found here.
The ABA House of Delegates will vote Tuesday on two additional proposals.