User talk:69.113.18.103

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The original text was wrong, and strange:

Of all American states, California is notorious for imposing the strongest duty of confidentiality upon its attorneys. There were no exceptions to the rule until 2004, when Business & Professions Code Section 6068 was finally amended to add a single discretionary exception to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm. The amendment was clearly borrowed from the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

The biggest problem with the text is that it gives the false impression that an attorney must protect a guilty client of all conduct, this is just not true. Obviously, if the attorney is committing the crime with the client then there is no privilege. This includes if the attorney knows the client is telling a lie to the Court or told a lie to the Court, the attorney must inform the court. Criminal proceedings have a slightly more technical leeway for an attorney to allow a client to assert innocence. But in a civil proceeding, an attorney can not sit by and let his client lie to a Court. This is basic stuff. Perhaps the editor has an opinion that attorneys in California are hiding behind the supposed confidentiality rule: Why would the editor use the word "notorious"? Shouldn't the protection of a client's secrets by "exemplary" as opposed to "notorious"?. In any event, as written it seems a subtle attempt to violate the wiki policy on a neutral viewpoint. If the editor can provide a reliable source which gives such an opinion then it arguably should be on Wiki.