Put simply, the attorney-client privilege of our legal system protects the communications between the client and his or her attorney. The idea behind protecting that communication is to keep clients as honest as possible, since the attorney is bound legally by regulating bodies that monitor the attorneys' ethical practices and have the power to disbar them for ethical or legal violations. In protecting the communications, the idea is that the client will open up to the attorney, and that openness will facilitate more justice in the justice system.

As a paralegal, you should keep in mind that anything and everything a client ever communicates to you, your attorney, or the firm is considered privileged by your attorney and not open for discussion with anyone other than your attorney. This is true regardless of how minor or mundane the communication may seem. For example, if the client calls to give your attorney some requested information, and in the course of him telling you the information he discloses to you that his delay in response is because he has been preparing to take his family on vacation to the Bahamas and has been overwhelmingly busy, you cannot share his vacation plans with anyone other than your attorney.

While the technical specifics of the law do not support what I am writing here about privilege, in the sense that everything a client says to you is not legally privileged, most attorneys you will work for will expect you to treat every communication with a client as if it were all privileged. In other words, attorneys generally see their paralegals as legal extensions of themselves, though it could be argued on a technicality. The main reason your attorney may see you this way is because he is held to a legal standard by his state and local bar association for everything you say, write, or do. Your attorney's law license is on the line if you violate these and other similar laws. Until you completely understand the importance of silence and confidentiality in your workplace, you present a liability to your firm and your attorney. You do not want to put your attorney in the position of feeling as if he cannot absolutely trust you to treat his client's every word with the ultimate confidence.

The elements of the attorney-client privilege were articulated inU.S. v. United Shoe Machinery Corp., 89 F.Supp. 357 (D.Mass. 1950), where the court enumerated the following five-part test: (1) the person asserting the privilege must be a client or someone attempting to establish a relationship as a client; (2) the person with whom the client communicated must be an attorney and acting in the capacity as an attorney at the time of the communication; (3) the communication must be between the attorney and client exclusively; (4) the communication must be for the purpose of securing a legal opinion, legal services, or assistance in some legal proceeding, and not for the purpose of committing a crime or fraud; and (5) the privilege may be claimed or waived by the client only.

Another reason your attorney will hatch eggs if you disclose anything about his case to a third-party is that many times, in the course of case work, the client communicates with you, the paralegal, not necessarily cognizant of the fact that you are only a paralegal and not a junior attorney. In the practical application of the attorney-client privilegeprovisions of the law, the client has only to indicate that they were under the complete conviction that they were speaking to another attorney when they said what they said. This common assumption by clients can put both you and your attorney in a very awkward position. Because clients commonly think the paralegal they speak to on the phone or in the office is, in fact, an attorney, you will find it necessary to frequently begin your conversation with the client by telling them that you are so-and-so's paralegal, "the paralegal working on your case" and similar phrases to make that distinction in the client's mind. Of course, you will do this also to make sure the client does not think that whatever words fall out of your mouth are your firm's "legal advice."

In the event you find yourself working for a defense attorney, you will need to have a criminal understanding of the attorney-client privilege as well. It is likely that you will find yourself at least partially present during certain conversations the attorney has with the client. Clients can jeopardize their attorney-client privilege if they speak to arresting officers or anyone else before speaking to their attorney. Police officers or other arresting officers may label the client as "uncooperative" if they refuse to speak to them without an attorney, but in the interest of protecting their attorney-client privilege it is one of the smartest things to do. In this way, the Miranda rights – which are read to the defendant at the time of the initial arrest – support and embrace theattorney-client privilege; both are designed to protect the defendant.

In dealing with the criminal element in a defense attorney's office, the other fact you will need to know is that in cases that involve fraud, the client is stripped of their attorney-client privilege. This is to prevent others from being caught up in the fraudulent acts, and to prevent attorneys from being legally bound to keep such information confidential. Anyone asking an attorney for advice on how to commit any act that is legally considered fraudulent is a person who opens himself to the full force of the law.