header-logo header-logo

NLJ this week: Client confessions & other client confidentiality dilemmas

13 October 2023
Issue: 8044 / Categories: Legal News , Regulatory , Profession
printer mail-detail
142608
Client confidentiality is generally seen as absolute with very limited exceptions, but tough ethical dilemmas can still arise, as Iain Miller, partner, & Charlotte Judd, senior associate, Kingsley Napley discuss in this week’s NLJ, complete with some alarming examples

What if the client tells you in confidence they have murdered two victims and buried their bodies? The crime has already been committed and is not related to the advice they are seeking from you now.

Or—this is a real-life example from the US, so readers can compare what they would have done with what actually happened—what if the client confesses they committed a crime for which someone else is currently serving time in prison? 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Freeths—Ruth Clare

Freeths—Ruth Clare

National real estate team bolstered by partner hire in Manchester

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Partner appointed head of family team

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

Firm strengthens agriculture and rural affairs team with partner return

NEWS
Conveyancing lawyers have enjoyed a rapid win after campaigning against UK Finance’s decision to charge for access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
A Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruling has reopened debate on the availability of ‘user damages’ in competition claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Edward Nyman of Hausfeld explains how the CAT allowed Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen’s alternative damages case against Meta to proceed, rejecting arguments that such damages are barred in competition law
back-to-top-scroll