ABA-450
|
| "When a lawyer represents multiple clients in the same or related matters, the obligation of confidentiality to each sometimes may conflict with the obligation of disclosure to each." Lawyers hired by an insurance company to represent both an insured employer and an employee must explain at the beginning of the representation whom the lawyer represents (which is based on state law). If there is a chance of adversity in this type of joint representation, "[a]n advance waiver from the carrier or employer, permitting the lawyer to continue representing the insured in the event conflicts arise, may well be appropriate." The lawyer faces a dilemma if he learns confidential information from one client that will cause that client damage if disclosed to the other client. "Absent an express agreement among the lawyer and the clients that satisfies the 'informed consent' standard of Rule 1.6(a), the Committee believes that whenever information related to the representation of a client may be harmful to the client in the hands of another client or a third person, the lawyer is prohibited by Rule 1.6 from revealing that information to any person, including the other client and the third person, unless disclosure is permitted under an exception to Rule 1.6." It is "highly doubtful" that consents provided by the jointly represented clients "before the lawyer understands the facts giving rise to the conflict" will satisfy the "informed consent" standards. Absent a valid consent, a lawyer must withdraw from representing the other client if the lawyer cannot make the disclosure to the client, and cannot fulfill his other obligations without such a disclosure. In the case of a lawyer hired by an insurance company to represent an insured, "[t]he lawyer may not reveal the information gained by the lawyer from either the employee or the witness, or use it to the benefit of the insurance company, when the revelation might result in denial of insurance protection to the employee." "Lawyers routinely have multiple clients with unrelated matters, and may not share the information of one client with other clients. The difference when the lawyer represents multiple clients on the same or a related matter is that the lawyer has a duty to communicate with all of the clients about that matter. Each client is entitled to the benefit of Rule 1.6 with respect to information relating to that client's representation, and a lawyer whose representation of multiple clients is not prohibited by Rule 1.7 is bound to protect the information of each client from disclosure, whether to other clients or otherwise." The insured's normal duty to cooperate with the insurance company does not undermine the lawyer's duty to protect the insured's information from disclosure to the insurance company, if disclosure would harm the insured. A lawyer hired by an insurance company to represent both an employer and an employee must obtain the employee's consent to disclose information that might allow the employer to seek to avoid liability for the employee's actions (the employee's failure to consent to the disclosure would bar the lawyer from seeking the employer's consent to forego such a defense). A lawyer facing this dilemma may have to withdraw from representing all of the clients, but "[t]he lawyer may be able to continue representing the insured, the 'primary' client in most jurisdictions, depending in part on whether that topic has been clarified in advance." |