How to Protect Your Legal Right to Privileged Communications

"Privileged communications" are discussions or correspondences between parties such as a lawyer and client, doctor and patient, or clergy and parishioner that are considered inadmissible in court. It is important to know how to protect your legal rights regarding privileged communications.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Legal counsel
• Computer with Internet access

1. Learn about the laws in your state regarding who qualifies as someone who may receive privileged communications. Spouse, doctors and lawyers are typically always within the realm of the privileged, while clergymen are sometimes not.
2. Protect your legal right to privileged communications. You can stop people from speaking about issues you discussed with them in confidence. Should they break that binding legal responsibility, they are subject to legal action by you.
3. Note that only the listener, never the speaker, is bound by the tenets of privileged communications. If you are the imparting figure, you are free to speak and are free to grant permission to others to speak at any time.
4. Even when threatened with contempt of court, there is no law forcing people who have received privileged information to speak. Only when they have been given express permission by you (the speaker) are they able to do so.
5. Find out whether you live in a state where your rights to privileged communications need to be enforced in writing. If so, your attorney will need to submit a letter of nondisclosure to any party who has received privileged information on your behalf. This letter serves as a warning to them that you are exercising this right.
6. Surrender your rights to privileged communications only when you have been advised to do so and deem that doing so would prove beneficial. In the case of privileged communications with an attorney, disclosure of private conversations can lead to appeals in the event of a conviction or mistrial.

Tips & Warnings

• Always make clear that the matters you are discussing with qualified correspondents are considered privileged, so they are made aware of their legal obligation to retain such information regardless of legal threats.
• Do not surrender your right to privileged communications unless you have been fully advised as to the potential ramifications of doing so. There may be situations in which surrendering your right to privileged information will actually be beneficial.