Tricky situation with client - please advise-lawyers advbice particularly welcome!

[lisalisa]

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Thank you Xenia.
Is it not one thing to know the man was his wife's client, quite another to intimate " I am glad you did not use lawyers as my wife was miffed you did not use her services? "

I have always wondered whether lawyers worked under a code of ethics similar to doctors where they did not mention ANYTHING about their work.

My friend (whose husb isa lawyer) once pointed out a woman in the street and said " she does not know it yet but her offer on such and such a house has just been accepted"

I was very shocked that lawyer husband had told her and that she had blabbed to me..

That would be wrong. You cannot name them. You cannot disclose confidential information about them. You can say something general like I advised on the sale of a £20m office block as long as that does not identify anything just like my father could say I treated a prisoner at Durham jail today or a patient committed suicide. There are also rules on sleeping with clients of course too - my daughter is studying this stuff this year - which are not as strict as for doctors but still need to be learned.

It's quite easy for a spouse to know the identity of some of a solicitor's clients without any breach of confidentiality. They may have been referred to the solicitor by the spouse; they may have disclosed that they use the solicitor themselves.

DH acts for a large number of people who are known to me, because they were friends of mine that I have referred to him, or because they were mutual friends. I've met some of his clients at dinners, etc. Absolutely no breach of confidentiality as long as he then doesn't disclose any of the work that he does for them. They of course are free to tell me what they like and often do!

True but the source mustn't be the spouse. My friend's mother revealed after we left school that my father had treated her for obssessive compulsive disorder for years. My father would never have told us but we know because the mother spilled the beans.

Don't you mean that the source mustn't be the solicitor? I would imagine the spouse is free to say what they like.

Yes, spouse as in the lawyer or doctor but if the non lawyer found out about the name of a client by say seeing confidential papers at home even they must not breach confidentiality which is why it's important to tell all family members what is allowed to be said and what not even for stuff they accidentally come across.

I've really been thinking about this thread - for a number of reasons. I have had clients for years, and with some of them it can blur into friendship and occasional lunches but this relationship seems a bit too close for comfort.

With most advisory relationships, one would try and improve them if it seemed to be faltering but ultimately one would just shrug and move on.

Forgive me for this, but I am going to ask two things:

(i) were your feelings for him entirely appropriate? I ask because you seem to mind the cooling of the personal relationship as much as the professional relationship.

(ii) is the excess of anxiety being produced by fee pressure at work. Do you feel secure in your new job?

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Oh Lisalisa how horrible. I have no doubt that you have in last 15 years been able to compartmentalise the personal and professional sides and do a really good job. If not, he would have eased you out from the professional side years ago.

Here's my thoughts:-

1. The busier & more prosperous he gets, the less time he has to chat and so on, he may be avoiding you because it is quicker to deal with someone else - I remember a client I had to pass on to someone else because I simply could not put up with their chatting - it frustrated me when there was work to be done (even though they were paying for my time)

2. There is huge business sense in having at least two sets of lawyers at all times and keeping two sets of relationships going (one may not be instantly available but it's ok - you can use the other)

3. As the deals get bigger he may feel uncomfortable at the thought of representing a greater and greater % of your fee income; he might have felt that your own professional balance muight be at risk because of this (especially if you have moved to a smaller firm)

4. If he is using someone else it might be because that other lawyer is more pushy for business and your client doesn't know how to say no

FWIW I think you may have let the boundaries get a bit woolly in the past, but what's done is done and you are where you are. I think there is no harm to be done in going to see him and stating that you value him very much as a good family friend and that will not change, but that if there are any professional concerns, you would very much like to discuss them. That should clear the air more than DH's telephone call...