ABA Issues Guidance Allowing Lawyers Discretion When They are Victims of Crime by Client: Formal Opinion 515

FROM THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION (ABA):

“The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility released a formal opinion on March 5, 2025, that provides clarification on when a lawyer may divulge information when they are a victim of a crime by a client or prospective client.

Formal Opinion 515 states that “a lawyer who is the victim of a crime by a client or prospective client may disclose information relating to the representation to the appropriate authority in order to seek an investigation and potential prosecution of the alleged offender or other services, remedy or redress. To the extent that the information would otherwise be subject to the lawyer’s duty of confidentiality under Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.6, the information is subject to an implicit exception to the Rule.”

The exception also applies when someone associated with the lawyer or related to the lawyer is a victim of the client’s crime and the lawyer is a witness to that crime. The implied exception does not otherwise permit lawyers to report clients’ crimes against third parties…”

RELATED LINKS:

• Other recent ABA ethics opinions
• ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct
• ABA Center for Professional Responsibility
• ABA Journal:
  • “Florida considers exception to lawyer confidentiality rule to protect minor clients”
  • “How the crime-fraud exception can threaten attorney-client privilege”