Dear Editor:
On reading Roger Ley’s comments on the RPC (February Bar Bulletin), I was absolutely flabbergasted on learning of the proposed changes. The changes proposed to the RPCs are absolutely monstrous and draconian, nay, I should say “Hitlerian.” It is tantamount to making every lawyer in the country an arm of “law enforcement” against the general citizenry and against our very own profession.
What on earth are they proposing here?
To be required to “rat” on your own client should be accompanied by a corollary. The client “must be informed” that anything and everything he tells his attorney will be relayed to the opponents.
If we, as counselors, are required to “snitch” on our own clients, is confessing to a priest any more sacrosanct? Our system of law is cumbersome and sometimes very inefficient, but it does guarantee a modicum of fairness and justice, precisely because lawyers are required to represent their clients forcefully. If each of us, lawyers as well as clients, cannot trust our lawyers with our confidential information, where do we turn?
What in the hell is the Board of Governors doing in not opposing these drastic proposed changes? Why are they not protecting our profession? Why are they not protecting our security? How do we become more secure by all of us turning into snitches? Our freedoms demand opposing these proposed changes, no matter who proposes them. Let us all raise our voices in protest. It is far too important and too dangerous to let it pass.
--Fernando E. PŽrez Pe–a
