The American Bar Association (ABA) has narrowly voted to relax its rules on client confidentiality, in a move that is widely recognised as a bid to stave off further regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

At its annual conference in San Francisco in August, the ABA policy-making body, the House of Delegates, voted in favour of a controversial change to its model rules, which will allow, but not require, lawyers to ‘whistle-blow’ to prevent a financial crime or fraud.