Attorney-client privilege is one of the most important protections you have if you’re facing criminal charges. It ensures that nearly everything you tell your lawyer in confidence cannot be shared without your permission.
Understanding this privilege is crucial because it allows you to be completely honest with your attorney about what happened. Misunderstanding how attorney-client privilege works can leave you holding back vital information, potentially weakening your defense.
What Does Attorney-Client Privilege and Confidentiality Really Mean?
Understanding the difference between legal confidentiality rules is vital for any client considering legal help, especially in criminal cases. Several related but slightly different protections safeguard your conversations, information, and your lawyer’s work from the hands of opponents or the court.
Here’s what each means:
Attorney-Client Privilege
This means any confidential communication you make to your lawyer for the purpose of seeking legal advice cannot be revealed to anyone else without your consent. This lets clients be completely honest, helping lawyers defend you appropriately.
Work-Product Doctrine
The work-product doctrine is another shield protecting your case. It keeps your lawyer’s private notes, mental impressions, research, strategies, interview summaries, and legal preparation from being turned over to opponents during discovery.
When Does Confidentiality Begin?
Knowing when confidentiality actually starts is essential, especially if you’re seeking legal help for the first time. Attorney-client confidentiality begins as soon as there is a clear intent to create a private conversation about obtaining or giving legal advice, even before any contract or payment.
For confidentiality to apply, these things must be in place:
- You, as the client or potential client, are communicating with an attorney (or their agent, such as an investigator, interpreter, paralegal, or expert consultant).
- The communication is private and intended primarily for the purpose of seeking or receiving legal guidance.
This means that your first meeting or phone consultation with a law office, even if you don’t end up hiring that lawyer, will usually be protected.
Exceptions to Confidentiality
While most of your communication and your lawyer’s work are protected, there are some important exceptions. Two of the most common ones that come up include:
Crime-Fraud Exception
If a client seeks advice to carry out or conceal a future crime or fraud, those specific communications lose their protected status. In that circumstance, lawyers may be allowed, or even required, to break confidentiality.
Prevention of Death or Serious Harm
In rare cases, if revealing client information might prevent someone from being killed or badly hurt, the lawyer may disclose what is needed to prevent the harm.
Situations Where Confidentiality Doesn’t Apply
In addition to exceptions, there are also situations in which confidentiality just doesn’t apply, even though clients might think it does.
Here’s when this occurs:
- Third Parties Present: When you include another person in your legal discussions with your lawyer, confidentiality doesn’t apply. For example, many clients prefer to have their family members present during conversations with their attorney. This breaks confidentiality, and the family member could be subpoenaed and forced to testify about what they heard.
- Posting About Your Case Online: Sharing case details or your version of events on social media can break confidentiality. Even if it’s information you told your lawyer in private, the fact that you are sharing it means it can be used against you.
- Recorded Jail Calls: Most jail calls are recorded, and even calls with your attorney may not be confidential unless made through designated private lines. For example, if you’re facing DWI charges and tell your lawyer you were drinking, the prosecutor may find this communication and use it at trial.
- Conversations in Public: Talking with your attorney in public spaces, such as cafés, hallways, court waiting areas, or crowded elevators, means others could overhear your strategies or personal information. Once heard by outsiders, privileged communications may become public.
Understanding these exceptions is critical because one mistake can undo the powerful protection you have with your defense attorney.
Contact the Albuquerque Criminal Defense Lawyers at Jones Criminal Defense Attorneys for Help Today
At Jones Criminal Defense Attorneys, we understand how important it is to protect your confidentiality. If you have been charged with a crime, our Albuquerque criminal defense attorneys can help. Call us today at (505) 248-1400 to schedule your free and confidential case evaluation.