Defense Counsel May Cooperate With Prosecutor In Ineffective Assistance Defense

A recent Tennessee formal ethics opinion is summarized on the Board of Professional Responsibility  web page:

Question:  May a criminal defense lawyer alleged by a former criminal client to have rendered ineffective assistance of counsel voluntarily provide information to the prosecutor defending the claim outside the court supervised setting?

Conclusion:  The Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct do not strictly prohibit a former defense lawyer alleged to have rendered ineffective assistance of counsel from providing information to the prosecution prior to or outside an in-court proceeding.  Exceptions to the confidentiality rules permit, but do not require, the former defense lawyer to make limited voluntary disclosures of information to the prosecution outside the in-court supervised proceeding.

The opinion is linked here. (Mike Frisch)