The duties of confidentiality and disclosure — what each demands, when each gives way, and how a solicitor manages the tension between them.
Almost every conflict-of-information problem turns on knowing which duty bends, and when. This chapter starts with the two duties themselves — confidentiality and disclosure, their scope, their duration and which prevails when they collide — before working through the recognised exceptions to each: what makes information 'material', when disclosure can be withheld, and how client consent and legal compulsion override confidentiality. It then examines the crime/fraud exception to privilege, the money laundering reporting regime with its tipping-off provisions, and what to do on receiving privileged documents disclosed in error. The final sections deal with acting for a new client when a former client's confidential information is material — including valid consent and effective information barriers — and the special rules on confidentiality between joint clients.
