The ABA ethics solons have issued a new opinion that attempts to bring some clarity to the thorny issue of if and when we need to notify our clients when we make an error. It’s a good reference guide, but contains no bright lines or safe harbors.

None of us who have been practicing for a few decades haven’t missed a deadline, gotten a judicial scolding for some delict, insult or inadvertence, large or small, or had something happen we’d just as soon not have the client know about. I was late for a pretrial one day and my case was dismissed. I got it restored a few weeks later. I never told the client. Maybe I should have.