Very Interesting stuff just emailed to me :
Protection of Client Confidential Information
Information about client conduct or misconduct imparted to a lawyer in the course of a lawyer-client relationship or which is involved in the representation of a client is subject to California Business and Professions Code section 6068 (e)1 , which provides:
It is the duty of an attorney:
(e) To maintain inviolate the confidence, and at every peril to himself or herself to preserve the secrets, of his or her client.
A lawyer's duty to protect client information under section 6068 (e) is much broader than the obligations imposed by the lawyer- client privilege. (Goldstein v. Lees (1975) 46 Cal.App.3d 614, 621, fn. 5 [120 Cal.Rptr. 253].) "This ethical precept, unlike the evidentiary privilege, exists without regard to the nature or source of information or the fact that others share the knowledge." (ABA Model Code Prof. Responsibility, EC 4-4; cf. Goldstein v. Lees, supra, 46 Cal.App.3d at p.621.) This Committee has repeatedly recognized that in its broadest sense, the preservation of the client's "confidence" means that a lawyer must maintain the trust reposed in the lawyer by the client. (Cal. State Bar Formal Opn. No. 1986-87.) As stated in California State Bar Formal Opinion Number 1987-93:
Section 6068 (e) is derived from the Code of Civil Procedure section 211(5), enacted March 11, 1872. The concept of confidence as trust is firmly embedded in the decisional law of California. It first appears in Kisling v. Shaw (1867) 33 Cal. 425, 441 which was decided by the California Supreme Court five years before the enactment of the original statute.
In addition to having trust in a lawyer, a client's confidence in that lawyer requires that the client have the fidelity and loyalty of the lawyer. (Anderson v. Eaton (1930) 211 Cal. 113, 116 [fidelity]; Jeffry v. Pounds (1977) 67 Cal.App.3d 6, 11 [136 Cal.Rptr. 373] (loyalty); and In re Soale (1916) 31 Cal.App. 144, 153.)
Thus, while the concept of "confidence" is not limited to the transmission of information, a significant cornerstone of the duty to maintain a client's confidence relates to the protection of information about the client to which the lawyer is privy during the lawyer-client relationship.
Under section 6068 (e), the fact that the lawyer received the information from a non-client makes no difference. While the client's communications with the lawyer receives additional protection under the lawyer-client privilege, the lawyer's ethical duty under section 6068 (e) does not depend on the source of the information. (L.A. Cty. Bar Assn. Formal Opn. Nos. 305, 386, 417 & 436.) |
