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Comparing Exceptions To Privilege And Confidentiality Relating To Crime, Fraud, And Harm -- Can Hard Cases Make Good Law?, Jean Fleming Powers

Jean F. Powers

The article begins by describing some scenarios – the hard cases – that illustrate the tension between the lawyer’s obligation to his client and what many would view as basic standards of decency and humanity. The cases include (1) the recent case of an innocent man who spent 26 years in jail for a crime he did not commit while the attorneys for the real perpetrator protected the information that their own client had committed the crime, (2) cases involving the extent of the exception to confidentiality to prevent death or substantial bodily harm, (3) a case in which attorneys …