What is the Attorney-Client Privilege?
Attorney-Client privilege is a protection given to attorneys and their clients to ensure that all communications remain confidential. This protection does not allow any information shared with your attorney to be used against you in court. It also allows you to freely share any information with your attorney and discuss the proper legal avenues to best deal with your situation without fear of having any information you disclose make your case worse. Any and all communications between the lawyer and client qualify, including emails, written messages, and phone calls. Both ends of the communication are protected, communications by the client to the lawyer and by the lawyer to the client. This protection also extends to those who work for the lawyer or in that office. Lastly, attorney-client privilege also applies to documents the lawyer is using in preparation for trial.
Are There Any Exceptions to the Attorney-Client Privilege?
There are a few exceptions to the attorney-client privileged. The first and most important one is the crime/fraud exception. This exception applies if the client was in the process of committing a crime, intended to commit a crime or fraudulent act, or communicated with the attorney to try to further or cover up the crime. This includes advising them against doing something that they could potentially be charged with a crime for. Some examples of crimes are witness tampering, concealing income or assets, or asking an attorney to present testimony she knows is false. When it comes to past crimes or fraud, those communications are protected under attorney-client privilege as long as no future or current crime or fraud is committed.
Another exception could be communications made in public spaces where others can easily hear the conversation. This also includes discussions made in a lawyer’s office in the presence of a non-privileged person as well. It is required that the person reasonably believes the communication is private. The last exception is a waiver. The privilege holder is the client; therefore, the privilege may be lost if they give up their right. The lawyer has no right to waive the attorney-client privileged because they do not hold it; only the client has the right to waive it.
Overall, the attorney-client privilege is there to protect any information you share with your lawyer to ensure you get the best representation. This protection helps your lawyer protect you to the best of their abilities with all the necessary knowledge needed to succeed with your case.