The New Jersey Supreme Court’s Professional Responsibility Rules Committee has informed members of the bar that the Supreme Court has asked the Committee:
Should an attorney be required to maintain the confidentiality of information relating the representation of a client where the information demonstrates that an innocent person has been wrongly convicted of a crime with significant penal consequences?
New Jersey RPC 1.6 (b) Confidentiality of Information currently provides
(b) A lawyer may reveal information relating to the representation of a client to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes necessary:
(1) to prevent reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm
The Court has directed the Committee’s attention to Mass Jud. Ct. R. 3:07, which provides, in Massachusetts RPC 1.6 (b)(1)
A lawyer may “reveal . . . [confidential information relating to the representation of a client] . . . to prevent the wrongful execution or incarceration of another.”The Committee has invited the state’s bar associations to comment on the suggestion by August 13, 2010.
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