Konfidencialumo principas advokato veikloje ir jo ribų neapibrėžtumas

Abstract

In this article, the author examines the problematic aspects of the principle of confidentiality in attorneys’ practice. It is noted that Lithuanian legal literature does not pay a lot of attention to this issue; only some debatable aspects of the principle of confidentiality in attorneys’ practice were examined in R. Drakšas’ study “Advokatas: veiklos pagrindai ir problemos” and in a separate scientific study by a team of authors – “Advokatūros teisė.” It should be emphasized that the profession of attorney is one of the professions which are subject to higher, stricter standards of conduct; therefore, it is considered that the emerging theoretical and practical problems of attorneys’ practice should be discussed and resolved in one way or another. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to start a scientific discussion by assessing the requirements of the principle of attorney confidentiality and the issues of their contradiction. Only by sharing views can the problems that arise in practice be best addressed. Finally, after a detailed analysis, the author presents several conclusions and further suggestions for the evaluation of the principle of confidentiality. In the author’s opinion, the very act of a client contacting an attorney and providing information and preliminary data should constitute professional secrets of the attorney. A professional secret is considered to be everything that an attorney learned from a client, directly or indirectly, from the moment they approached a particular attorney for legal assistance. The client’s fundamental right to confidentiality cannot be denied, even if the attorney does not accept the order because they are unable to perform their duties in a timely and proper manner due to lack of time or professional incompetence. In this article, the author sets out the arguments and suggests that Article 8 (4) of the Attorney ethics code is supplemented with an additional point stating that the attorney has the right to disclose information constituting lawyers’ professional secrecy without the client’s consent in order to prevent a grievous crime. Finally, the author makes a proposal to set a term of validity of the confidentiality of a lawyer’s professional secrecy. It is understood that the client’s name, year of birth, occupation, and workplace data could be protected for less time than information relating to disciplinary sanctions, administrative offenses, convictions and criminal offenses, or health data. Information relating to the rights of the individual, the protection of honor and dignity, privacy, personal identification number, etc., could be protected for the longest time.