I am involved in a joint defense agreement with two other lawyers and their clients. My client now wants to cooperate. Is there a problem?
Samuel C. Stretton.
A joint defense agreement has to be carefully understood before one enters into it. That could limit what one could do and also raises issues of attorney-client privilege. Traditionally and by the rules of ethics, if one is in communication with one’s client and discloses the communication to a third party, that breaks the attorney-client privilege. In other words, there would be a waiver. That is why when an attorney meets with a client, they don’t have the client’s girlfriend or best friend present because then the information is no longer privileged.
