Attorney-Client privilege is a particularly tricky issue for attorneys who handle business transactions in Phoenix, as they so often have clients for both legal and non-legal services. A client who requires legal services is protected by quite strict attorney-client privilege ethics rules. However, a client who is provided strictly non-legal services cannot be protected by attorney-client privilege. The ambiguous part comes when a client uses both legal and non-legal services. Transactional attorneys repeatedly face this situation.

The Rules

• A lawyer may not act unfavorably to a current client.

• A lawyer may act unfavorably to a former client only if the new issue is clearly unrelated to the issue the lawyer previously handled.

• A conflict that affects one member of the firm affects all members in the firm.

• A client may waive conflicts if provided proper disclosure and consent. The court usually takes the client’s expected level of sophistication and understanding into account when judging the validity of waivers.......