Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Confidentiality
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of our professional training is learning to maintain confidentiality. The lawyers who have done their best to protect the information entrusted to them by their clients, even those who have committed criminal acts, have been vilified by the general public even as they have been celebrated within the profession. It is not easy to cultivate discretion, especially within a culture that has established norms of disclosure of even personal information that an earlier era deemed obviously private.
Nonetheless, as you are trained as an advocate and counsel, you will learn the importance of confidentiality. No matter how much public interest there is in a case you are handling, and even – especially – if your own self-interest would favor revelation over secrecy, it will remain crucial to exercise restraint. The legal system depends on no less.
