terest. Thus, the duty of confidentiality owed by a lawyer to his or her client has been rather zealously protected throughout the years, more so than any other confidential relationship.
Attorney-Client Confidentiality in Australia
It must be recognized, however, that the attorney's duty of confidentiality towards the client is separate from the evidentiary privilege concerning attorney-client communications. In Australia, this has developed into two different categories of confidentiality law: the duty of secrecy and the professional legal privilege. The duty of secrecy obligates the attorney to maintain the confidentiality of the client's matters, unless compelled to disclose the information by the law; the professional legal privilege, on the other hand, prevents the law from compelling an attorney to disclose certain matters. Obviously, the duty of secrecy is much broader than the legal privilege, which is basically an evidentiary rule.
The general principles governing this duty
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