ABA: Lawyers should disclose business clients' illegal acts

Miami Herald: The American Bar Association wants its members to do more than competently defend business clients. It wants lawyers to disclose clients' illegal activities that could damage an individual's or corporation's financial interests.
In criminal law, lawyers already are required to report clients' activities that might cause death or bodily injury without violating confidentiality rules. In this post-Enron era, shielding businesses from financial harm is a logical and necessary step.
The ABA rightly is holding its members to a higher standard of ethical behavior. The more checks and balances that govern financial dealings, the better -- for corporate employees, stockholders, indeed the nation's economy.
Recently, the ABA adopted three measures to make lawyers more accountable for good corporate governance and keeping business dealings aboveboard. Two revise the association's rules of professional conduct: The first permits a lawyer to disclose information to keep a client from committing a crime or fraud that will injure the financial interests of another party.
The second allows a corporate lawyer to disclose when an employee is breaking the law in a way that can harm the corporation.
Corporate governance
The third rule outlines procedures and policies to improve corporate governance, suggesting regular meetings between attorneys and the board, for instance, without senior managers present.
The revisions are intended to promote corporate integrity. Lawyers are expected to place the integrity of the corporation above the interests of individual executives or the board.
Some lawyers contend that the professional-conduct revisions turn them into snitches. Those concerns are legitimate, but they ignore that the new disclosure rules aren't mandatory. Rather, the rules encourage lawyers to use their judgment and to acknowledge that they have a duty to serve the greater good.
In other words, lawyers have a choice. If a client uses a lawyer's services to commit a crime, the lawyer is permitted to disclose the act. Lawyers, therefore, can protect themselves from being misused. The new rules respect attorney-client confidentiality while encouraging lawyers to hew to a higher ethical standard.