Credit: Shutterstock Did Cooley Breach a Client Confidence?
Unless your client has authorized you to disclose the information, or some other exception applies requiring disclosure, don't disclose your client's secrets!
February 14, 2022 at 09:45 AM
5 minute read
Legal Ethics and Attorney Discipline
A few weeks ago, the law firm Cooley garnered national press and praise for refusing to cave to their client Tesla's demand that Cooley fire an associate attorney who had previously worked at the SEC. See Debra Cassens Weiss, Cooley is praised for refusing to fire associate disliked by Elon Musk because of past SEC work, ABA Journal (Jan. 19, 2022); Staci Zaretsky, This Biglaw Partner Would've Told Elon Musk To Kindly GTFO for Demanding an Associate Be Fired, Above the Law (Jan. 19, 2022). The praise was widespread. The numerous articles on the isolated incident caught my attention because the groundswell of support for Cooley conflicts with its obligations to maintain client secrets.
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