We’ve been looking in recent posts at the duty of candor attorneys owe to the court, and the harm that can result from their failure to properly exercise their duties in this area. Last time, we mentioned several potential scenarios which could constitute an abuse of the duty of candor to the court. These scenarios involve harmful disclosures of information to the court or taking unnecessary or unreasonable remedial measures to correct the situation.
The duty of candor to the court and legal malpractice, P.2
In our last post, we began looking at the duty of candor attorneys owe to the court, and how this duty can sometimes run counter to an attorney’s duty of confidentiality to the client and the attorney-client privilege. Confidentiality and privilege ordinarily are so ingrained in an attorney that the prospect of having an ethical obligation to inform the court of matters disclosed to the attorney in private is unnerving.
