Advisory Opinion:
1767
Year Issued:
1997
RPC(s):
RPC 1.6(b)(2)
Subject:
Client confidence or secret; disclosure of client's failure to disclosure property in bankruptcy where lawyer is creditor
Facts Presented: Lawyer represented a client who signed a personal note for outstanding attorney's fees. The client did not pay the note and moved out of state. The client then filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy naming the attorney as an unsecured creditor and received a "no asset" discharge in bankruptcy. The attorney recently saw a newspaper article indicating this client continued to own a piece of property which the attorney recognized as having been a parcel belonging to the former client. The attorney learned about the client's ownership of this parcel of land as a result of the attorney/client relationship with the former client. The attorney suspects that the client did not list the property in his bankruptcy petition (the attorney has not verified this by obtaining a schedule of assets filed by the client's bankruptcy proceeding).
Question Presented: May an attorney disclose to a bankruptcy court the failure of the former client to list real property owned by the former client when (1) the attorney learned of the existence of the real property in the course of representing the client, and (2) the attorney filed a claim in the client's bankruptcy proceeding for unpaid legal fees?
Applicable Rules: RPC 1.6(b)(2).
RPC Committee Opinion: Assuming that the client failed to list the real property in his bankruptcy proceeding, the attorney may advise the bankruptcy court under RPC 1.6(b)(2) of this fact in order to establish his claim against the client for his fee, if the claim is still legally viable.
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