Is there a duty of a lawyer to help me once I have shared with him confidential information?

Full question:

I discussed my case with a lawyer and he told me to sent him narrative version of my case including names of the people via email. He gave his email address. I sent my confidential and privileged information as a PDF file and I also wrote on it 'confidential and privileged information'. It is now more than five weeks. I have sent him emails and called his office many times to know what is going on and please tell me what my options are etc. But he is not responding to my calls. What does this mean and what should I do?

• Category: Courts
• Subcategory: Attorneys
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: New Jersey

Answer:

The answer will depend upon whether or not an attorney-client relationship has been established. If the answer is no, then you would be consdiered a "former prospective client". If the answer is yes, then you are a client and certain duties are owed.

New Jersey Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct

1.2:210 Formation of Client-Lawyer Relationship
Since many ethical duties and prohibitions depend on the existence of an attorney-client relationship, it is important to define the relationship and determine when and how it begins. At its most basic, it begins with the reliance by a nonlawyer on the professional skills of a lawyer who is conscious of that reliance and, in some fashion, manifests an acceptance of responsibility for it. See In re Palmieri, 76 N.J. 51, 58, 60 (1978). Thus the relationship can be created in the absence of any express agreement, in the absence of any bill for services rendered, even in the absence of any legal services. Id. It may be inferred from the conduct of the attorney and “client,” or by surrounding circumstances. Id. at 58-59.

It must, nonetheless, be “an aware, consensual relationship.” In re Palmieri, supra, at 58. On the client’s side, it must be found from “some act, some word, some identifiable manifestation that the reliance on the attorney is in his professional capacity.” On the attorney’s side, there must be a sign that the attorney is “affirmatively accepting a professional responsibility.” In re Palmieri, supra, at 58, 60.

Note that under some circumstances, preliminary consultations may be substantial enough to form the basis for an attorney-client relationship even if the attorney is not actually retained to perform any further services. See Herbert v. Haytaian, 292 N.J. Super. 426 (App. Div. 1996). See Section 13:1, Michels, New Jersey Attorney Ethics (Gann Law Books, Newark, 2000).

1.2:220 Lawyer's Duties to Prospective Client
In Procanik By Procanik v. Cillo, 226 N.J. Super. 132 (App. Div.), certif. den. 113 N.J. 357 (1988), the New Jersey Appellate Division indicated that “threshold communications” between a lawyer and a prospective client may impose certain duties and responsibilities on the attorney even if no legal representation emerges from that consultation. Id. at 146. The court held that although an attorney may decline a representation without stating any reason at all, he is not without obligation with respect to a reason he does undertake to give. Id. at 149. When an attorney, and particularly one specializing in a specific area of the law, declines a representation because of the state of the law, which he undertakes to express, he or she must know, or should know, that the prospective client will depend on the reliability of that expression, so that there is an obligation to know the settled law on that issue and to express it accurately. Id. at 150. If the law is unsettled, debatable or doubtful, the attorney is not required to be correct, but only to exercise an informed judgment based on a reasoned professional evaluation. Id. The attorney is not obligated to anticipate a change in settled law. Id. Again, however, this obligation attaches only if the attorney chooses to provide a reason. See Section 13:6-3, Michels, New Jersey Attorney Ethics (Gann Law Books, Newark, 2000).