Client-Attorney Relationship Privilege When Working with Your Ohio Lawyer May 29, 2012.

The client-attorney relationship privilege protects sensitive information that you divulge to your Cleveland personal injury lawyer.

The following are exceptions to the client-attorney relationship privilege:

• client death – in the event that a client should pass away, privilege may be breached if legal heirs litigate against one another;
• fiduciary duty – a corporation has a right to attorney-client privilege, but it is not absolute and may be breached on behalf of shareholders in certain cases;
• fraud or crime furtherance – when a client seeks advice from a lawyer to advance a crime or fraud or to conceal a crime after it has been committed, the correspondences are not privileged; and
• common interest exception – in such instances that a client may be represented by the same attorney, neither client has client-attorney relationship privilege against the other.

In addition, certain facts are not privileged – for instance, how long you have been working with your lawyer or that you have a lawyer. The terms of attorney retention may also be considered discoverable. Other participants in a meeting with a lawyer may not be protected, either.

Overall, when you are working with your lawyer, you can safely assume that as long as you are not seeking assistance in commissioning or concealing a crime, all of your admissions will be protected by the rule of privilege.