The attorney-client privilege shields from disclosure certain confidential communications between a lawyer and client related to legal advice. The inception of the privilege derives from the premise that adequate legal representation requires full disclosure of information by the client and that this disclosure is more likely to occur if the client's confidences are protected. Because the privilege is inhibitive to the search for information, its application is a limited one that is narrowly construed. On the other hand, an attorney's ethical obligation to hold inviolate certain confidential information of the client is broad and applicable to different circumstances.

The duty prohibits an attorney from revealing any information relating to the subject representation, absent the client's consent or a recognized exception delineated in the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC). This article examines the relationship between the attorney-client privilege and the duty to maintain confidentiality, including how the two concepts overlap and how they apply under different circumstances.