Ethics Opinion Approves Sharing Confidential Info with State

Criminal defense attorneys accused by their former clients of being ineffective face a difficult decision—share information with the state that could harm their former client on retrial or remain silent and risk their own reputations.

A recent Nevada ethics opinion gives attorneys permission to share with prosecutors information necessary to respond to such allegations before being required to do so by a court, provided the disclosure is narrowly tailored to the issues the former client raised in the claim.