Scribd
Upload
95 views1 page

Paralegal Discussion Board

The document discusses the ethical obligations of a paralegal regarding two client conversations. For the first client who confessed to a past murder, the paralegal has a duty of confidentiality as the client was seeking legal representation. For the second client who discussed plans for a future murder, the paralegal has no obligation to report this information but also no duty to prevent the crime from occurring.

Uploaded by

Liam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
95 views1 page

Paralegal Discussion Board

The document discusses the ethical obligations of a paralegal regarding two client conversations. For the first client who confessed to a past murder, the paralegal has a duty of confidentiality as the client was seeking legal representation. For the second client who discussed plans for a future murder, the paralegal has no obligation to report this information but also no duty to prevent the crime from occurring.

Uploaded by

Liam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

You are employed as a paralegal in a law office.  On Monday, Mr.

Smith
comes in to hire your firm in case he is arrested for murder.  He tells you that
he killed his wife and where he hid the body.  
On Tuesday, Mrs. Jones comes in and says that he is planning to kill her
husband and hide his body.  She is going to put arsenic in his dessert
tonight.  She wants to hire your firm in case she is prosecuted for murder.  

Do you have any obligation to disclose either, both, or neither conversation


to the police?  Do you have a duty to keep either, both, or neither
conversation confidential?  Why?  

As a paralegal in a law office the same rules of professional conduct as an attorney must be
abided. The protection of attorney-client confidentiality is therefore applied to the paralegal
and all non-lawyers working with or representing the lawyer for both current clients and
prospective clients. Mr. Smith’s first visit on Monday where he stated that he killed his wife and
where he hid his body would be protected under the attorney-client privilege, since Mr. Smith
was communicating with the paralegal under the assumption that they were representing the
lawyer he was inquiring about. Being the paralegal in this situation I would then be ethically
bound and obligated to keep Mr. Smith’s confession to a crime already committed private. For
the information that was brought forth on Tuesday by Mr. Smith regarding information to
commit a crime in the future I would not be obligated to run to the police, or the husband, and I
would be within my ethical bounds to do nothing at all.

You might also like