When someone is facing criminal charges, there may be facts and circumstance that the person would prefer no one knows about. This is true even when the person is completely innocent of the charges. It is likely that some of those facts and circumstances, if known to law enforcement authorities, are what led to the criminal charges in the first place. It is important for a person facing criminal charges to be able confide in someone whom they can trust in order to mount an effective criminal defense.

You have probably at least heard of the concept of the attorney-client privilege. This protects the confidentiality of communications between an attorney and a client, and is crucial to ensure that an attorney can vigorously represent a criminal client, without the potential that attorney will be forced to testify against the suspect. Recently, the Nevada Supreme Court reversed a conviction against a Las Vegas woman after her attorney had been improperly made to testify against her.

In that case, a district court judge had ordered the attorney to conduct an accounting of her client's trust fund. It turned out that information form that accounting was used as evidence in criminal trial against the suspect. That trial resulted in 13 felony convictions against the client.

But the state Supreme Court reversed the convictions. The Supreme Court explained that the client has the privilege of preventing her attorney from disclosing the contents of confidential communications. Generally, only the client themselves can waive this privilege to allow for the disclosure of confidential information.

It is important to understand that the attorney client privilege goes beyond promising to keep a secret. It is a confidence that every attorney is bound to respect and that the courts will enforce.

Source: Las Vegas Sun, "Nevada Supreme Court reverses conviction on violation of lawyer-client privilege," Cy Ryan, Jan. 15, 2012