The issue of confidentiality is critical to the attorney/client relationship. As one of the three primary fiduciary duties a lawyer owes to their client, it is necessary to ensure that clients can discuss sensitive matters with their lawyer. What happens, however, when evidence presented turns out to be false? How do attorneys balance the confidentiality requirement when it conflicts with the lawyer’s obligations of honesty?

This CLE course will explain how to address the presentation of evidence that an attorney discovers is false. The course will explain the variations among the jurisdictions in how to deal with this occurrence and how to balance the ethics violation in disclosing confidential information unnecessarily with that of failing to take reasonable remedial measures when required. The course will explain when these varied obligations come into play, how to analyze whether evidence offered is material and how to determine whether the body receiving the information is a tribunal in the first place.

The course will also address the multijurisdictional nature of modern practice, the differences among the rules, and how these rules should be prioritized. The current state of the rules and whether changes are warranted given a clients’ stake in the attorney’s actions, will also be discussed.