RPC 175

Reporting Child Abuse

Opinion rules that a lawyer may ethically exercise his or her discretion to decide whether to reveal confidential information concerning child abuse or neglect pursuant to a statutory requirement.

Editor's Note: This opinion was originally published as RPC 175 (Revised).

Inquiry #1:

RPC 120 was adopted by the Council of the State Bar on July 17, 1992. The opinion provides that a lawyer may, but need not necessarily, disclose confidential information concerning child abuse pursuant to a statutory requirement set forth in G.S. §7A-543 et seq. In 1993 the North Carolina General Assembly amended G.S. §7A-543 and G.S. §7A-551. G.S. §7A-543 now generally provides that as follows:

…any person or institution who has cause to suspect that any juvenile is abused, neglected, or dependent...or has died as a result of maltreatment shall report the case of that juvenile to the director of the Department of Social Services in the county where the juvenile resides or is found.

G.S. §7A-551 now generally provides as follows:

…[n]o privilege shall be grounds for any person or institution failing to report that a juvenile may have been abused, neglected or dependent, even if the knowledge or suspicion is acquired in an official professional capacity, except when the knowledge or suspicion is gained by an attorney from that attorney's client during representation only in the abuse, neglect or dependency case.

Does Rule 4 of the Rules of Professional Conduct require an attorney to report his or her suspicion that a child is abused, neglected or dependent to the local Department of Social Services (DSS) if the information giving rise to the suspicion was gained during a professional relationship with a client, which is not for the purpose of representing the client in an abuse, neglect or dependency case, and the information would otherwise be considered confidential information under Rule 4?

Opinion #1:

No. Rule 4(b) prohibits a lawyer from revealing the confidential information of his or her client except as permitted under Rule 4(c). Rule 4(c) includes a number of circumstances under which a lawyer "may reveal" the confidential information of his or her client. Subsection (3) of Rule 4(c) allows a lawyer to reveal confidential information "when... required by law or court order."

The rule clearly places the decision regarding the disclosure of a client's confidential information within the lawyer's discretion. While that discretion should not be exercised lightly, particularly in the face of a statute compelling disclosure, a lawyer may in good faith conclude that he or she should not reveal confidential information where to do so would substantially undermine the purpose of the representation or substantially damage the interests of his or her client. See Rule 7.1(a)(3) (which prohibits actions by a lawyer which will intentionally "[p]rejudice or damage his client during the course of the professional relationship..."). For example, a lawyer may be unwilling to comply with the child abuse reporting statute because he or she believes that compliance would deprive a client charged with a crime of the constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel. Under such circumstances, where a lawyer reasonably and in good faith concludes that revealing the confidential information will substantially harm the interests of his or her client and, as a matter of professional responsibility, declines to report confidential client information regarding suspected child abuse or neglect to DSS, the failure to report will not be deemed a violation of Rule 1.2(b) and (d) (respectively defining misconduct as committing a criminal act and engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice) or Rule 7.2(a)(3) (prohibiting a lawyer from concealing that which he is required by law to reveal). It is recognized that the ethical rules may not protect a lawyer from criminal prosecution for failure to comply with the reporting statute.

Inquiry #2:

Is it ethical for a lawyer to reveal confidential information of a client regarding suspected child abuse or neglect to DSS pursuant to the requirements of the child abuse reporting statute?

Opinion #2:

Yes, a lawyer may ethically report information gained during his or her professional relationship with a client to DSS in compliance with the statutory requirement even if to do so may result in substantial harm to the interests of the client. Rule 4(c)(3).

Note: The foregoing opinion is limited to the specific inquiries set out therein. It should not be read to stand for the general proposition that an attorney's good faith is a bar to a disciplinary proceeding based upon the attorney's violation of a statute.