{"id":894088,"date":"2018-05-02T12:08:42","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T18:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=894088"},"modified":"2018-05-02T12:25:41","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T18:25:41","slug":"whoops-tell-client-error","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/whoops-tell-client-error\/","title":{"rendered":"Whoops! When Do You Have To Tell A Client About Your Error?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karen E. Rubin | Thompson Hine LLP<\/a> | April 26, 2018<\/p>\n

If you believe that you may have materially erred in a current client\u2019s representation, your duty of communication under\u00a0Rule 1.4\u00a0requires you to inform the client.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the unsurprising conclusion that the ABA\u2019s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility reached in its latest\u00a0opinion, issued April 17.<\/p>\n

Of note, though, is that the Committee firmly concluded that no similar duty applies to former clients. Also interesting is the excursion into substantive law that the Committee takes in order to delineate when a current client becomes a former client.<\/p>\n

What we have here is a duty to communicate\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even if you\u2019ve only seen the Paul Newman classic\u00a0Cool Hand Luke<\/em>\u00a0on YouTube clips, you know the\u00a0classic line about communication. Not failing to communicate is important whether you\u2019re on a chain gang or just working hard for your client.<\/p>\n

As the ABA Committee said in the opinion, unfortunately, \u201ceven the best lawyers may err in the course of clients\u2019 representations,\u201d and if material, you have to \u2018fess up to the client. \u201cAn error is material if a disinterested lawyer would conclude that it is (a) reasonably likely to harm or prejudice a client; or (b) of such a nature that it would reasonably cause a client to consider terminating the representation even in the absence of harm or prejudice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Committee identified several parts of Rule 1.4 that potentially apply where a lawyer may have erred in the course of a current client\u2019s representation:<\/p>\n