ABA Rejects Ethics Revisions on Client Confidentiality

On August 6-7, 2001, the American Bar Association House of Delegates rejected proposed changes to permit lawyers to disclose client confidences to prevent a client from committing a crime or fraud, through the use of the lawyer’s services – a vote that will not meet the goals of the gatekeepers initiative. The ABA’s House of Delegates voted on changes recommended by the Commission on Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct, known as the Ethics 2000 Commission. The recommendations were the result of a four-year effort to update the model rules to take account of the intervening changes in law practice and the growing disparity in state ethics code. The current rules have been in place since 1983…[more]