Confidentiality in a law office is not a courtesy. It is an obligation, and in India it has statutory force.
The protection is legal, not merely professional.
Communications between an advocate and a client are privileged under Section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act. An advocate may not disclose what a client has told them in the course of the engagement, and that protection does not lapse when the case ends or when the relationship does. It belongs to the client, and only the client can waive it.
What this means in practice is that you can tell us things you would not tell anyone else — including things that are against your own interest — and we can advise you properly because of it. An advocate advising on half the facts is advising on the wrong case.
Where the other side is family.
In property, matrimonial and succession matters the opposing party is frequently a brother, a cousin, an in-law, or the relative who has been managing the house. The people asking what you discussed with your advocate are often the same people you are in dispute with.
We do not discuss a client’s matter with relatives who are not party to the engagement, however closely related and however insistent. Where family members approach the office on a client’s behalf, we take instructions only from the client or from a properly authorised attorney holder — not from whoever happens to telephone.
For clients abroad this matters more than it may appear. When you are eight thousand kilometres away and a relative in India is offering to deal with your advocate for you, the arrangement is convenient until the day it is not.
Documents and records.
Original title deeds, wills, agreements and identity documents entrusted to us are held securely and returned to you. We take copies for the file and do not part with originals except to the court where the proceedings require it, and then only with your knowledge.
Where documents are exchanged electronically — which for clients abroad is most of the time — we ask that they be sent to the firm’s own address rather than to a personal one, so that the file remains in one place and under the firm’s control.
What we will not do.
We do not use one client’s information for the benefit of another. We do not take instructions in a matter where the firm already acts for the opposing side. Where a conflict of interest exists or later emerges, we will tell you and withdraw rather than continue in a position we should not be in.
These are not remarkable undertakings. They are the ordinary duties of an advocate, and the reason to state them is that a client is entitled to know they are being observed.
