Law in Contemporary Society
LawContempSoc » ArchivedMaterial » OldDiscussionMaterials » AttorneyClientPrivilegeDilemma

A Problem in Privilege

What would you do if you could save an innocent man from a murder conviction, but had to break attorney-client privilege rules to do so?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-secretjan19,0,3767780.story?page=1

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/06/60minutes/main3914719.shtml

-- TedKreit - 07 Mar 2008

I think that from an outside perspective when it comes to the overall needs of the legal profession, this decision makes a lot of sense. If they had broken privilege, not only would they have incriminated their client, but also they would have ruined the trust that countless other future clients would have with their attorneys. However, when I put myself in that situation, I'm not so confident that I would have made the same decision that they did.

-- AndrewWolstan - 11 Mar 2008

  • So far, so good. You can't treat the privilege rules as excepted from on the basis of someone else's interests, or even "the interests of justice." So you can't disclose client confidences or undertake any action putting your client in legal jeopardy. But a lawyer is someone who knows how to solve a legal problem. So how do you solve this one? In other words, how do you think outside the box?

-- EbenMoglen - 15 Mar 2008


 

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r3 - 16 Mar 2008 - 02:20:36 - EbenMoglen
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