If you or your loved ones need legal assistance, it’s important to remember one thing: being up front and forthcoming with your lawyer about the facts of the case is a necessity. Without understanding the complete truth about a case, it’s much more difficult for your lawyer to build a proper strategy or defense for you, which significantly diminishes the likelihood of achieving victory. Additionally, many of the reasons clients fear telling their lawyer the absolute truth can be assuaged by the rules of solicitor-client privilege.
According to the Canadian Bar Association, lawyers’ ethical duty of confidentiality extends to all information learned while working for their clients. “This duty exists no matter the source of information or its confidential status before it became part of the solicitor-client relationship,” according to the legal overseer. In other words, all of the information shared between a lawyer and client is confidential, protected under Canadian Law. Understandably, there’s an exception to this rule if the information shared threatens public safety or could lead to “some impending harm to a person.”
Looking past protections under solicitor-client privilege, there are other reasons you needn’t feel anxious about opening up and sharing the whole truth with your lawyer. Firstly, being “guilty” of something doesn’t disqualify you from legal representation. On the contrary, once lawyers know the facts of a case it often makes it easier to employ a wide variety of options that would work in your favour going forward. Plus it helps to know the facts before attempting to build any kind of case on your behalf.
Secondly, in addition to lowering your chances of winning the case, withholding the truth from your lawyer can result in an enormous amount of wasted time for both you and your lawyer. As many legal professionals and their clients can attest to, maximizing time and efficiency is vital when it comes to winning court cases. Keeping secrets from your lawyer can lead to unforeseen surprises or curveballs over the course of a case, many of which may have been avoidable had they known the details beforehand. After spending days, months, or even years building your defense and strategy, it can be a tremendous disappointment for both lawyer and client to have a preventable situation cost them an otherwise winnable case. As we know, in addition to reputational harm, losing cases can be accompanied by monetary penalties, criminal record convictions and even jail time.
Here at MG Law, we want what’s best for our clients. Being up front and honest with our lawyers, though at times intimidating, will inevitably lead to a stronger defense and a higher likelihood of success. If you’re in need of legal assistance, we’d be happy to evaluate your case and provide you with sound advice on how to move forward.
Give our office a call at (613) 730-8460.
