Attorney-Client Sex: A Bad Idea That’s Also Unethical

By Wendy Patrick Mazzarella. Click the button below and follow the onscreen instructions. What rules apply when during the course of legal representation, a lawyer decides that he or she is becoming sexually attracted to his or her client? Even then, however, other ethics rules may apply to the extent that sexual involvement may adversely impact the attorney-client relationship.

This article will attempt to explore this issue by discussing California and ABA Ethics rules, ethics opinions and case law, including the rationale behind prohibiting such conduct between lawyers and clients. In California, we have a specific rule governing sexual relationships between lawyers and clients.

The relationship between defense counsel and the client accused of a “​Although not binding, opinions of ethics committees in California should be date of the meeting, its defense purposes, and that everyone agrees to be bound by.

Contents I. Overview II. Privilege Waivers VI. Privilege Logs. The attorney-client privilege is an evidentiary privilege that protects communications between an attorney or law firm and the client; it is held by the client and gives rise to a privilege to refuse to disclose confidential communications between the client and his, her or its lawyer. The attorney-client privilege is deemed fundamental to the proper functioning of our system of justice. See , e. United States, U. Smith, F. Gedan, F.

Although the attorney-client privilege, like the fiduciary duty of confidentiality, has its roots in the common law, today the attorney-client privilege is generally governed by state statute, and there are few exceptions and those are generally statutory as well.