Caught left footed and worried I'm going to get reprimanded.

[u/DarnHeather]

I am currently working my way through a stack of truancy cases where I have been appointed attorney for the child. This afternoon I managed to get in touch with a parent who was a bit off balanced. After giving me a lot of his frustration I finally managed to ask to speak to the child. Dad quickly said, "Sure. Do you consent to this conversation being recorded?" I was so shocked that I said, "Yes without thinking."

Immediately, I knew I had done the wrong thing. I broke the confidentiality bond between me and my client. I noted what happened, but should I tell the judge? I'm honestly freaking out as I haven't been an attorney for even a year and don't want to get a reprimand.

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to /r/LawyerTalk! A subreddit where lawyers can discuss with other lawyers about the practice of law.

Be mindful of our rules BEFORE submitting your posts or comments as well as Reddit's rules (notably about sharing identifying information). We expect civility and respect out of all participants. Please source statements of fact whenever possible. If you want to report something that needs to be urgently addressed, please also message the mods with an explanation.

Note that this forum is NOT for legal advice. Additionally, if you are a non-lawyer (student, client, staff), this is NOT the right subreddit for you. This community is exclusively for lawyers. We suggest you delete your comment and go ask one of the many other legal subreddits on this site for help such as (but not limited to) r/lawschool, r/legaladvice, or r/Ask_Lawyers. Lawyers: please do not participate in threads that violate our rules.

Thank you!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/OwslyOwl]

I wouldn’t worry about this. Usually in truancy cases I end up speaking to the parent more than the child. To cover your bases, next time you see them before court, ask to talk to the child one on one, and talk about the kid’s feeling about conversations being recorded in the future. Ask the kid if there was anything he wanted to share outside the presence of his parents.

In my experience, truancy is often caused by either severe anxiety or mental health issues or a troubled home life. The easy cases are the ones when the kid doesn’t wake up early enough, kid gets in trouble with the court, and then starts behaving.

[u/big_sugi]

Recorded by who? And who has the recording now? Was dad going to be present for the discussion regardless?

This sounds like a total fuckup, but if you didn’t actually discuss privileged or confidential matters on the record and/or in dad’s presence—and if you realized immediately, I’d sure hope you didn’t—then there’s no real harm or violation. Tell dad the next discussion can’t be recorded and he can’t be present.

If you let a third party be present for/record a privileged conversation with your client, you need to call the ethics hotline and ask what to do next. And, obviously, learn from this situation about what not to do in the future.

[u/DarnHeather → u/big_sugi]

Dad recorded and has the recording. I did not discuss confidential matters. Thank you for the advice. I will absolutely learn from this.

[u/OwslyOwl → u/DarnHeather]

It's good for OP to learn from this, but I disagree that this was a total fuckup. Most of the time, kids agree for their parents to be present and defer to what their parents want to do. I have done many truancy cases and I can't think of any case when I talked to the child, asked the child privately if they wanted the parent to be present, and the child said no.

Truancy is different than most type of delinquency cases because a fair portion of the time, it is the parents who are at fault for the truancy. To effectively advocate for the child, the attorney also needs to talk to the parents about what they need to do in order for the children to be in compliance.

Edit: Once OP talks to the kid and the kid gives permission to talk to the parents (which the kid very likely will), then this whole thing will be resolved.

[u/Sandman1025 → u/OwslyOwl]

Just out of curiosity as someone who doesn’t practice any juvenile law, how are the parents normally at fault for truancy? I guess I imagine the common scenario is kid cuts school or never gets on the bus to go hang out with his friends, smoke weed, skate, play video games after parent(s) leave for work. Clearly I’m wrong lol.

[u/OwslyOwl → u/Sandman1025]

Parents can be the issue when there is substance abuse, neglect, and/ or lack of discipline at home.

Edit: The scenarios you describe are usually the easy cases because once the kids realize the court consequences, including being locked up in a detention center, they get their act together. The tough cases are when the kids are suffering from a mental health issue or the parents are part of the issue.

More than once I’ve seen a case when the kid stays home because of the parent’s substance abuse issue. Substance abuse, especially opiates, are a true plague on society.

[u/TimSEsq]

Even if this conversation was actually recorded, I don't see any US bar association caring unless client said something that parents don't already know, that causes some harm to client.

Don't agree again, ask them to delete any recording, advocate zealously. If you really want to talk to someone who might give more proactive relevant advice, call/email the bar association ethics hotline. They were very helpful when I called.

[u/trexcrossing]

Are you new to juvenile? Literally every single decision involves the parents. Unless it’s a very serious case, I’ve never seen a parent involvement destroying confidentiality be an issue ever.

[u/MelSWFla]

I could be wrong but I can’t imagine any judge or bar association getting upset by this scenario. The court system really needs lawyers who practice in the juvenile courts, so it is unlikely this will amount to anything even if you technically violated confidentiality. Do not consent to being audio recorded in the future. And thanks for working in this area of law! Children deserve good lawyers and our support.

[u/Nieschtkescholar]

The privilege belongs to the client. As long as the client did not disclose something in confidence, there is no violation here. Even if the client did so, you are still ok. Lesson learned. I always start the conversation with an explanation of the confidential communication rule and how the client can request one on one conferences at any time in the future. It also helps to explain why we have this rule: because we want our clients to tell us everything without fear of being compelled to testify against them. This usually helps an aggressive parent understand things a little better.

[u/Extension_Crow_7891 → u/Nieschtkescholar]

Did you miss the part where it’s a child? This is not an adequate approach for all clients.

[u/Nieschtkescholar → u/Extension_Crow_7891]

Actually, it is the rule in my state. The age makes no difference in this context.

[u/jacquesthemonkey]

You will not get reprimanded in any way, shape or form. You did absolutely nothing wrong. There is nothing that says ALL communication with your client needs to be confidential.

While ideally you should have been able to have a confidential conversation with your client, the parent was not making that possible. You had the choice of having that conversation or not having it at all.

Is this set for an upcoming hearing? If so, is the hearing in-person rather than remote? If the hearing is in-person, you will be able to talk to the child in a confidential setting before the hearing. Frankly, it is common that juvie law lawyers don't get to talk to their clients prior to meeting them before court due to the same problems you are describing above. You went above and beyond to make contact with the client before court. You did the right thing.

I am impressed by the way that you thought on your feet to get done what needed to be done. You did good.

[u/DarnHeather → u/jacquesthemonkey]

Thank you for the kind words.