Advising client of attorney-client privilege

Advising client of attorney-client privilege

Before any substantive discussion begins, it is often wise to discuss the attorney-client privilege. The following type of admonition is suggested:

I want to tell you that everything you tell me is strictly private, just between you and me. Nothing you tell me goes to the police or to the District Attorney or to the judge or to anyone else. No one can make me tell them what you said to me, and I won't. Maybe you've heard about the attorney-client privilege. The law says that when a person is talking to his or her lawyer, whatever he or she tells the lawyer is confidential and secret between the two of them. This is because the law recognizes the lawyer's obligation to his/her client and to nobody else; that the lawyer is supposed to be 100 percent on his or her client's side; that the lawyer is only supposed to help his or her client and never do anything—or tell anything that might hurt the client in any way.FN80

Once the client understands that nothing he or she says to the attorney can be used against him or her without consent, he or she is more likely to talk freely. Again, it is invaluable to remind the client before embarking on a thorough interview on the case that it is only with the client's cooperation in disclosing these facts that the attorney can best prepare a defense.