Attorney-Client Confidentiality as a Fair Trial Right in Criminal Proceedings

  1. Thaman, Stephen C.
  2. Bachmaier, Lorena
Libro:
General Reports of the XXth General Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law - Rapports généraux du XXème Congrès général de l'Académie internationale de droit comparé
  1. Alexandre Senegacnik (dir.)
  2. Diego P. Fernández Arroyo (dir.)
  3. Katharina Boele-Woelki (dir.)

Editorial: Springer

ISSN: 2214-6881,  2214-689X

ISBN: 9783030486747,  9783030486754

Año de publicación: 2020

Páginas: 589-610

Tipo: Capítulo de Libro

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-48675-4_21 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Resumen

This chapter aims at providing a comparative overview on the protection of the fundamental right to counsel and the lawyer-client confidentiality in criminal proceedings. It will first explore the extent of the right to access to a lawyer, at which procedural stage and in relation to what types of offences it inures and what activities it entails. Before analysing the protection of the right to counsel and its content at the national level, the principles set out by the ECtHR will be addressed, as it shows the higher degree of harmonization achieved among the European countries. The impact of the EU Directive on the Right to Access to Lawyer, crucial to understanding the gradual approximation of the laws of the EU countries in this area, will also be mentioned.The chapter will then discuss the breadth of the attorney-client privilege and the related confidentiality of attorney-client communications: the types of communications to which it applies and the extent to which it derives from the constitutional right to counsel, or only from national legislation. Following this it will be discussed how the different national legal systems protect the lawyer against confidential attorney-client material being the subject of judicial subpoena, an office search, a search of a computer or stored digital files, or any kind of interception of attorney client communications. Finally, the consequences of the infringements of the right to counsel and the right to confidentiality of communications between lawyer and client will be analysed, going from exclusionary rules of evidence to sanctions to the lawyer breaching the duty of confidentiality. At the end, we have tried to draft certain conclusions with suggestions as to where improvements could be made in the protection of this fundamental right.

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