One of the cornerstones of the attorney-client relationship is the attorney’s obligation to safeguard a client’s confidences. An attorney who fails to do so can face severe consequences, including termination by the client, a bar grievance, or even a legal malpractice claim.

Revealing a client confidence can get an attorney in trouble even if there are few consequences of that disclosure. In other circumstances, however, the harm posed by a failure to safeguard confidences can be severe, such as when an attorney reveals the identity of a victim of domestic abuse to the press or fails to adequately protect a business’s trade secrets.