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The Future Harm Exception: Coercive Control As Serious Psychological Harm And The Challenge For Lawyers’ Ethics, Deanne Sowter

Dalhousie Law Journal

Can a lawyer use the future harm exception to prevent her client from coercively controlling his former spouse? Lawyers are required to keep their clients’ secrets unless an exception applies. One of those exceptions is where there is a clear and imminent risk of serious bodily harm or death to an identifiable group or person. The exception provides that serious psychological harm constitutes serious bodily harm, but there is very little guidance as to what type of threat might meet the test. Coercive control is a type of family violence whereby an abusive spouse will use a pattern of tactics …