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How much
do you tell your lawyer?
Some lawyers do not want to know everything because they feel limited by the truth. I strongly disagree. We are not the prosecutor, judge, nor jury and we do not judge you; it is our duty to zealously represent the interests of our client, no matter how guilty they are or feel. The fact a client may be guilty is irrelevant to the quality and zealousness of the representation he or she receives from us.
Therefore, we want to know everything there is to know about the facts no matter how bad it is, and, believe it we have heard almost everything there is to hear about all kinds of cases. Also, guilt is often a relative concept, and there could be defenses that limit the client's exposure or can even gain an acquittal. A good trial lawyer needs to know what is to be expected so he or she will not walk into any traps that could hurt the client in plea negotiations or before a jury. Not telling the lawyer the whole truth only hurts the client. The facts may be embarrassing, but being convicted because your lawyer was not fully informed is far worse.
Remember, what a client tells his or her lawyer is always protected by ethical rules of confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege. The rules of confidentiality are designed, intended, and rooted in the encouragement of the free exchange of information between client and attorney. I proved how I will protect client confidentiality when I was subpoenaed without any warning to give client information in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in 1995, and I refused to testify even under the threat of being jailed for contempt. The subpoena was ultimately withdrawn because the prosecutor knew that the information would never be revealed, after my spending nearly a week in Texas waiting to litigate the issue, and the client's confidences remained fully protected.
Hall is a nationally recognized expert on legal ethics and the criminal defense lawyer, and he is the author of "Professional Responsibility of the Criminal Lawyer 3d.
Some lawyers do not want to know everything because they feel limited by the truth. I strongly disagree. We are not the prosecutor, judge, nor jury and we do not judge you; it is our duty to zealously represent the interests of our client, no matter how guilty they are or feel. The fact a client may be guilty is irrelevant to the quality and zealousness of the representation he or she receives from us.
Therefore, we want to know everything there is to know about the facts no matter how bad it is, and, believe it we have heard almost everything there is to hear about all kinds of cases. Also, guilt is often a relative concept, and there could be defenses that limit the client's exposure or can even gain an acquittal. A good trial lawyer needs to know what is to be expected so he or she will not walk into any traps that could hurt the client in plea negotiations or before a jury. Not telling the lawyer the whole truth only hurts the client. The facts may be embarrassing, but being convicted because your lawyer was not fully informed is far worse.
Remember, what a client tells his or her lawyer is always protected by ethical rules of confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege. The rules of confidentiality are designed, intended, and rooted in the encouragement of the free exchange of information between client and attorney. I proved how I will protect client confidentiality when I was subpoenaed without any warning to give client information in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in 1995, and I refused to testify even under the threat of being jailed for contempt. The subpoena was ultimately withdrawn because the prosecutor knew that the information would never be revealed, after my spending nearly a week in Texas waiting to litigate the issue, and the client's confidences remained fully protected.
Hall is a nationally recognized expert on legal ethics and the criminal defense lawyer, and he is the author of "Professional Responsibility of the Criminal Lawyer 3d.
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