10-1.

Case DateSeptember 20, 2010
CourtKansas
Kansas Ethics Opinions 2010. 10-1. KBA Legal Ethics Opinion No. 10-01September 20, 2010 TOPIC: Client Mail to a Post Office box DIGEST: A lawyer is permitted to use a Post Office box for the receipt of client mail, even where another person is also authorized to receive mail at the same mail box.Date of Request: August 27, 2010. REF: KRPC 1.6 and 1.15(a) and (b). FACTS: Counsel plans to lease a Post Office box in her name and in the name of an elderly relative, who is not a lawyer. Client communications would be delivered to the Post Office box, addressed to the lawyer, and it is assumed that other mail would be delivered to the box, addressed to the relative. Counsel represents that only she will retrieve mail from the mailbox. QUESTION: May a Kansas attorney utilize a Post Office box for receipt of client mail, even if the box is shared with a non-lawyer? ANALYSIS: Rule 1.6, Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct,(fn1) provides as follows: 1.6. Client-Lawyer Relationship: Confidentiality of Information.
(a) A lawyer shall not reveal information relating to representation of a client unless the client consents after consultation, except for disclosures that are impliedly authorized in order to carry out the representation, and except as stated in paragraph (b).
(b) A lawyer may reveal such information to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes necessary:
(1) To prevent the client from committing a crime; or
(2) to comply with requirements of law or orders of any tribunal; or
(3) to establish a claim or defense on behalf of the lawyer in a controversy between the lawyer and the client, to establish a defense to a criminal charge or civil claim against the lawyer based upon conduct in which the client was involved, or to respond to allegations in any proceeding concerning the lawyer's representation of the client.
This Rule requires a lawyer "to act competently to safeguard information relating to the representation of a client against inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure by the lawyer or other persons who are participating in the representation of the client or who are subject to the lawyer's supervision."(fn2) The rule is quite broad, and extends protection to most information about a client, including information which may otherwise be publicly available,(fn3) and including the identity of the client.(fn4) In...

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