Communications between you and your lawyer are protected by one of your rights known as the attorney-client privilege.
The purpose of the attorney-client privilege is to encourage you to disclose all relevant information related to your case to your attorney by protecting certain disclosures from being revealed at a hearing or trial.
This privileged information remains private and confidential between you and your attorney (and your legal team), unless the privilege is waived by voluntary disclosure to third parties.
To ensure that communications between you and your lawyer remain confidential, and to protect against losing such privilege, below are tips to keep in mind:
- Refrain from disclosing the content or details of your communications with your attorney with others, such as friends and family.
- Social media provides the potential for waiver of the attorney-client privilege by publicly disclosing confidential information. Do not post information relating to your case on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Refrain from sending messages through these social media outlets discussing anything related to your case.
- Do not post information relating to your case or communications with your attorney on a personal blog, video blog, online message boards, or on any other online platform.
- Refrain from using your work related email to communicate with your attorney, or to discuss your case.
- Depending upon your employer’s policy relating to electronic communication, the attorney-client privilege may be waived by communicating with your attorney or by emailing details regarding your case on your personal email account (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) via a company computer. To ensure your communications remain confidential, it is best to only communicate via email from your private email address from your home computer, laptop, or personal phone.
Angela Lennon
