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Attorney’s obligation of confidentiality

Michael Decker
Michael Decker

An attorney’s obligation of confidentiality is central in maintaining a relationship of trust between the attorney and the client. Given its importance, this obligation is fulfilled with great strictness, and its violation is permitted only under the most extreme circumstances. Our office deals extensively with civil law and handles many issues regarding attorney-client relations. This article, by an advocate and partner in our firm, discusses the legal issues surrounding the attorney’s confidentiality obligation.

Our offices, in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, specialize in civil law. Attorneys from our office provide our clients with counsel and representation on a range of civil law issues, such as: torts, commercial law, bankruptcy and insolvency, labor law, intellectual property, and more. Likewise, attorneys from our office provide assistance and counsel on issues of professional ethics and represent attorneys before the Disciplinary Court of the Bar Association.

Attorney confidentiality

What is a lawyer’s legal obligation of confidentiality to a client?

The confidentiality between lawyer and client enables them to do the best possible job of protecting the client’s interests. It is common knowledge that there are other kinds of immunity and confidentiality obligations in other fields, such as confidentiality for doctors, psychologists and journalists. However, attorney-client confidentiality is one of the most powerful and expansive confidentiality obligations. Maintaining confidentiality is essential to ensure clients’ trust in the attorney, and therefore this obligation is observed with such strictness.

A number of Israeli laws and rules define instructions for attorneys’ confidentiality obligations toward their clients. The Evidence Order, the main legislative source for evidence law in Israel, states that the attorney is not obligated to submit as evidence any information or documents exchanged with the client, as long as they were related to the professional service provided by the attorney.

Likewise, the Bar Association Law forbids an attorney from revealing spoken words and documents exchanged with the client and which are connected to the professional service provided to the client. This applies to any legal proceeding, investigation or search. In addition, the Bar Association regulations, which define attorneys’ ethical obligations, state that the attorney is obligated to keep secret any information received from the client or on their behalf, while fulfilling the role of attorney.

What is the purpose of the confidentiality obligation?

The confidentiality obligation is tremendously important for both the attorney and the client. From the attorney’s point of view, it enables them to do their job – to work devotedly for the client’s benefit and protect the client’s rights. For clients, the confidentiality obligation allows them to develop trust in the attorney. Legal procedures often involve revelation of the most intimate details, and if clients are afraid to express themselves freely to those representing them, it is very difficult hard to perform that representation in the most beneficial way.

What are the possible sanctions for violating the confidentiality obligation?

Given that the confidentiality obligation is intended to preserve trust in the attorney-client relationship, the Bar Association and the courts guard it strictly. A single attorney’s violation of this obligation may affect attorney-client relationships in general, and cause clients to fear sharing information with their attorneys. Accordingly, violation of this obligation is likely to result in heavy sanctions, including suspension of Bar Association membership, and even permanent revocation of the attorney’s license. In cases where an attorney is subject to legal or disciplinary proceedings following violation of the confidentiality obligation, they may themselves need counsel and representation by an attorney specializing in professional ethics.

In what instances might it be possible to violate the confidentiality obligation?

Although the confidentiality obligation is quite broad, it is not absolute. Laws and rules dealing with lawyer-client confidentiality have determined certain limitations on this obligation. Thus, for example, if the client explicitly agreed to remove confidentiality or reveal confidential information, the attorney would be allowed to reveal the information in question. In certain cases, it could also be decided that certain information is not protected by the confidentiality obligation. For example, in quite a number of cases, it has been ruled that dates and times when the attorney met with the client, or even information regarding the fees for professional services paid by the client to the attorney, are not covered by the confidentiality obligation.

There may be instances in which the attorney’s rights must be weighed against the confidentiality obligation. Thus, for example, in the Ilan Ashed ruling, which dealt with the conviction of an attorney in the Disciplinary Court of the Bar Association. The ruling stated that there could be exceptional cases in which an attorney would need to reveal confidential information in order to defend himself appropriately against accusations and complaints regarding professional ethics. This case illustrates that the confidentiality obligation is not absolute, and that sometimes it must be weighed against other obligations and protected rights.

Contact an attorney specializing in civil law

In this article we explained the attorney’s obligation of confidentiality to the client, the content of this obligation, and the exceptions to it. If you have any question or need assistance in this matter, an attorney specializing in civil law and professional ethics from our office will be happy to be at your service. You can contact us at the telephone numbers or email address below.

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