LAW OFFICE OF KEVIN ZAZZER

Law Office of Kevin Zazzer

Lawyers should maintain and maintain a solid level of knowledge as a professional.

Conversely, if the level is “low”, “default” and other legal liability will arise.

Anyway, it is a case law that implicitly says that “the result depends on the lawyer chosen by the user”.

Because lawyers are obliged to keep confidential, people can rest assured that they will be able to reveal secrets that cannot be told to others.

That responsibility is the underlying legal obligation to maintain trust.So what secrets should lawyers not reveal? What are the penalties for breaking confidentiality?

What Is A Lawyer’s Confidentiality Obligation?

Article 23 of the Attorney Act stipulates that “a lawyer or a person who was a lawyer has the right and obligation to keep the secrets that he or she has learned in the course of his or her duties.”

Whether you are an active lawyer or a former lawyer, you will continue to have a legal obligation to not divulge any secrets you know at work for the rest of your life.

You literally have to take it to the graveyard without talking to your family.

The “Basic Regulations for Staten Island Bankruptcy Lawyer Duties” as an industry internal rule established by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations also states in Article 23,

“Attorneys must not divulge or use secrets that they have learned about the client in their duties without justifiable reason. It must not be. ”

Compared to the provisions of the Lawyer Law, it is limited to “without a justifiable reason”, but it is characterized by expanding the scope of regulation to “do not use (secret)”.

In addition, the Attorney Act also admits that there may be cases where confidentiality is not exceptionally imposed by law, saying,

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“If there is a special provision in the law, this does not apply” in the proviso of Article 23.

What Is The Scope of Confidentiality?

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First of all, the meaning of the word “secret that I learned in my job” becomes a problem.

“I got to know my job” means that a lawyer knows in the process of performing her job in that qualification.

It is not necessarily limited to what you know in the case you are in charge of or in a dispute case, but it is thought that it includes a wide range of secrets of others that have been revealed based on the trust of lawyers.

However, it does not include secrets that lawyers have learned in private when they leave their jobs.

The word “secret” is a matter that has the property of wanting to be kept secret from the standpoint of the general public (secret in an objective sense).

A fact that is not known to the general public, and the person himself wants to keep it secret.

It is generally understood that it includes both matters that have the property of thinking (secret of subjective meaning).

In particular, the proviso of Article 23 of the Attorney Act recognizes the existence of exceptions to the application of legal confidentiality. Specifically, it is as follows.

  • Exception to the right to refuse testimony under the Code of Civil Procedure

“When cross-examined facts that should be kept silent in the course of work” (Civil Procedure Law, Article 197, Paragraph 1, Item 2).

  • Exception to the right to refuse testimony under the Code of Criminal Procedure

“If the person consents, if the refusal of the testimony is recognized as an abuse of the right to be done only for the accused (except when the accused is the person), or

  • if there are other reasons stipulated by the rules of the court” (criminal procedure) Article 149 proviso of the Code of Criminal Procedure).
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Article 23 of the Basic Regulations for Lawyer Duties states “About the client”, but this is not limited to the client who has a specific delegation contract, but also legal counselors (free counseling) who have not been accepted and cases already it includes a wide range of former clients who have completed processing.

Furthermore, the corporate lawyer’s advisory company and the organization (company) that employs an in-house lawyer (in-house lawyer) are also included in the “client” here.

In addition, what is the “just cause” that is exempt from the application of the same article and is not subject to breach of confidentiality is also an issue.

Generally, it is considered unavoidable to disclose the secrets of others in the following cases.