Confidentiality: the Alton Logan Case

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Confidentiality PA 253 Legal Ethics Michelle Jacobo Kaplan University Confidentiality: The Alton Logan Case Before discussing the specific case in question, let us first review one of the words in this week’s key terms, Confidentiality. The term Confidentiality is described as being communication made by client to attorney that is to be kept confidential. It is a duty of the attorney. Also, it goes on to specify that the attorney is to be informed of the facts of the case so that he will feel confident that he can offer the best representation to the client, and likewise, the client can feel free to disclose to his attorney and know that it will not be released outside of that relationship. This is most likely why Andrew Wilson felt it was appropriate to confess to the murder of the security guard after Alton Logan was convicted. Not only that, but his confession was only prompted by the questioning of his own two attorneys. Andrew was aware that his confession was not going to be shared with any other parties because of the attorney-client privilege, which states that the attorney cannot testifying as to confidential communications made by the client to the attorney. His attorneys, in this case, had a responsibility to their client, Wilson, and also, legally they could not violate the attorney-client privilege. After watching the video, the two attorneys involved did seem as though they struggled with this decision, and as one of them mentioned “it's very, very clear-it's not morally clear-but we're in a position to where we have to maintain client confidentiality, just as a priest would or a doctor would. It's just a requirement of the law. The system wouldn't work without it," Coventry explained (60minutes, 2008). According to Illinois Rule 1.6, section (a) of Professional Conduct, “A lawyer shall not reveal information relating to the
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