The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
"Call Me Officer Streisand"
The title I should have given the post below. Grrr. (Spirit of the staircase.)
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Antigonish
Interesting music videos of that, starting with Glenn Miller in 1939!
Don’t lawyers have an ethical duty to warn clients about such things as the Streisand Effect? Do they often fail to do so, or do clients often fail to heed their advice?
There are ethical lawyers?
Seems to me a very grey area. How hard do lawyers have to push to get the clients to say they understand the risks, and how skeptical do they have to be when clients say they understand? How do clients reconcile knowing that lying to their lawyer is bad vs needing to push a reluctant lawyer into taking their case?
It depends on the facts of each case.
Yes, lying to your lawyer is bad, and if you do lie to your lawyer, there’s a good chance it will eventually be be discovered because depositions will be taken, documents will be exchanged, private investigators will be hired. I’m not saying people never get away with perjury but it’s definitely a risky proposition. Depending on what kind of lie, there’s a strong probability it will be discovered, at which point having your lawyer be mad at you may be the least of your worries. However, most clients are not aware of that. A lot of people think that if they talk fast enough, they can fool everybody, including the jury. On occasion that works, but you can’t count on it.
As far as getting the client to understand the risks, sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. If people are heavily emotionally invested in what they believe to be a just result, they may or may not be willing to hear that they have a bad case. A lawyer may take a borderline case but insist on getting paid up front. Or, a lawyer may simply have to say I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. And, if a lawyer is having trouble getting any business — he’s new, he doesn’t know how to get business — and is desperate, he may even take a bad case in the hope that it might settle for nuisance value. (Never hire a lawyer who needs the money worse than you do.)
“A lot of people think that if they talk fast enough, they can fool everybody, including the jury. On occasion that works”
Worst case, you win the election
Spirit of the staircase? It’s never too late in the blogosphere.