Ethics Alert

The California Bar’s Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct has recently issued an ethics alert on a new limited exception to the duty to protect confidences and secrets in circumstances where the client has disclosed information about child abuse. The pertinent rule “is permissive- it creates a right to disclose, not a duty to disclose.” Rule 3-1000, approved in 2004 “expressly recognize[s] an exception to the duty of California lawyers to preserve their clients’ secrets”:

the lawyer is faced with the dilemma of preserving clients’ secrets or of disclosing the information to prevent harm to another. Until recently, the lawyer could not act to protect innocent victims without breaching the duty of confidentiality, but now Rule 3-100 permits the lawyer to disclose such information under specified circumstances. The rule and its extensive comments provide a helpful guide to lawyers faced with this dilemma.

(Mike Frisch)