What is the purpose of the attorney client privilege?
Without the privilege, an attorney could be forced to testify against their client. Then a client would not tell the attorney all the details of the case. Therefore, the attorney would not be able to fight for each client as well as he or she might be able to if he or she had more information. The more the attorney knows, the better prepared he or she can be to help you. What happens if I confess to my attorney? If I tell my lawyer that I committed any crime, he or she cannot tell anyone. HOWEVER, if I tell my lawyer that I committed the crime that I am on trial for, the lawyer cannot put me on the stand (if he knows that I am going to lie to the court about what happened). Lying on the stand is called perjury, which is a very serious crime. My lawyer will get in lots of trouble, including possibly losing his or her job and his or her license to be a lawyer, if he lets me lie to the court. THEREFORE – I should give the attorney as much information as possible without telling the attorn
