Can I disclose the parties I'm representing? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Under ethics rules, can I disclose to people outside the firm the parties I'm representing if its public knowledge that my firm represents them on this particular deal/case?

[Johann]

Under ethics rules, can I disclose to people outside the firm the parties I'm representing if its public knowledge that my firm represents them on this particular deal/case?

Why try to walk the ethics line to brag about the clients you are representing. Just a good habit to never mention a client by name when talking to firm outsiders.

The fuck is wrong with your prestige whores.

[Johann]

To be in more depth - the problem with mentioning the client is if you want to talk about the cool work you do then you cant because thats all confidential but you could be like yeah this client is having some problems with its diligence or whatever interesting issues are coming up with the client.

If you just want to brag about who you represent, I'll let FatDuck take it from here... Even small firms represent big clients. It's not unique or particularly cool. Just a nature of the business.

[fats provolone]

if it's not on your firm bio I wouldn't talk about it.

[jd20132013]

no one cares who u represent just fyi

especially at biglaw thats like bragging about whose butler you are

[SemperLegal]

Obviously the rules and facts are different, but my wife is a nurse and she always tells me she can reveal who her patients are or what they do/did, not both. I much rather hear about shitgargling, meth addled grannies than learn a bunch of stupid names.

[smaug]

Obviously the rules and facts are different, but my wife is a nurse and she always tells me she can reveal who her patients are or what they do/did, not both. I much rather hear about shitgargling, meth addled grannies than learn a bunch of stupid names.

Pretty sure that's the rule generally though some clients are totally confidential.

[lacrossebrother]

I'd like to cross post this and ask if this is you, OP?

No, sorry, posting someone's LinkedIn as if it's a tabloid is as trashy as racism and demonstrates an autism-spectrum level of lack of discretion and lack of empathy.

you're a grade A autist

Ill move my tone back a bit to say that I find this type of behavior on linkedin worthy of shitpoasting on TLS:

[barkschool]

Gianfranco: "thanks all, I'm excited to take the case. I hope you all will be relieved to know that the Creditors actually DID NOT distribute thousands of individuals' personal data. Their handling, which exposed the data to potential hackers however, I'll let the courts decide that one."

[SemperLegal]

Obviously the rules and facts are different, but my wife is a nurse and she always tells me she can reveal who her patients are or what they do/did, not both. I much rather hear about shitgargling, meth addled grannies than learn a bunch of stupid names.

Pretty sure that's the rule generally though some clients are totally confidential.

In that case, you'll never guess what CFO was just sitting in my conference room alternating shots of methamphetamines and decaf fecal matter.

[Anonymous User]

Op here. Wow, that escalated quickly.

I just want to know if I can say in my firm bio or tell my good friends or spouse if I am working on, for example, "the m&a deal between household brand A and household brand B" or "a case here brand C is getting sued by brand d"

[SemperLegal]

Op here. Wow, that escalated quickly.

I just want to know if I can say in my firm bio or tell my good friends or spouse if I am working on, for example, "the m&a deal between household brand A and household brand B" or "a case here brand C is getting sued by brand d"

Very different answers. Clients have to expressly approve advertising on their name. Telling friends about M&a deals is likely to get you a visit from both the bar authorities and Preet Bahara, you'll likely be ok if your representing Flo against the Aflac duck. But keep in mind our duty to not disparage or ham a client far exceeds attorney client priv, or even just the duty of confidentiality. Additionally, as soon as you tell people v what issues your on, they'll ask for details (even if they don't care), setting you up to breach or look like an ass.

More importantly, it exposes you to professional and legal risk (unless you have approval), for almost no gain.

[zot1]

Duuuude. You never ever talk about M&A deals until it's completely done.

[crumb cake]

no one cares who u represent just fyi

especially at biglaw thats like bragging about whose butler you are

lmao

[Anonymous User]

Duuuude. You never ever talk about M&A deals until it's completely done.

This. My corps professor told us a story of a girl who graduated from our school who lost her job and nearly got disbarred because she told her scumbag bf over breakfast why she was going to be working late (She was working on a M&A deal and she revealed the companies involved). The dude bought tons of stock of the company being acquired and the feds caught on. It was traced back to her and she got instantly dismissed from her big law firm.

OP, did you like not take corporations/business associations? If you're gonna be working on M&A deals, you probably should (along with sec reg).

[lacrossebrother]

Duuuude. You never ever talk about M&A deals until it's completely done.

This. My corps professor told us a story of a girl who graduated from our school who lost her job and nearly got disbarred because she told her scumbag bf over breakfast why she was going to be working late (She was working on a M&A deal and she revealed the companies involved). The dude bought tons of stock of the company being acquired and the feds caught on. It was traced back to her and she got instantly dismissed from her big law firm.

OP, did you like not take corporations/business associations? If you're gonna be working on M&A deals, you probably should (along with sec reg).

Burnnnnnn. Ya did you like not take BA

[El Pollito]

that story sounds real

[Desert Fox]

[fats provolone]

that story sounds real

her name was Ladasha. read about it in my corps class

[PMan99]

Op here. Wow, that escalated quickly.

I just want to know if I can say in my firm bio or tell my good friends or spouse if I am working on, for example, "the m&a deal between household brand A and household brand B" or "a case here brand C is getting sued by brand d"

Your firm should handle the firm bio part...

Deals as mentioned above have a host of issues.

Cases are different since you (or your firm at least) are likely to be on the caption or mentioned in news articles or press blurbs which means by telling people you are on a case you aren't disclosing anything nonpublic. The general principle I follow is that if it's public information, you can talk about it. It's rare that people want to know more than what is in the complaint or answer, and if they do, you can say you can't talk about that because it's confidential for now.

[Anonymous User]

I was doubtful of the story as well, but I actually was able to look it up. Story is near the end.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/ ... 4520e510e/

Didn't really matter for her I suppose. That firm imploded shortly afterwards.

[Anonymous User]

Op here. Sorry if I was not clear. The m&a deal has already been announced publicly and the law firm names are public.

I still can't disclose that I am personally working on this until the conclusion of the deal right?

[Anonymous User]

Sorry to bump, but, is it not OK to talk about clients I represented in the past, outside of the M&A realm?

For example, tell an interviewer for a later job that during my 1L summer, I worked on a well-known public litigation for AT&T. Or, I drafted a patent application for Google. Hypotheticals ofc.

Thank

[SemperLegal]

Sorry to bump, but, is it not OK to talk about clients I represented in the past, outside of the M&A realm?

For example, tell an interviewer for a later job that during my 1L summer, I worked on a well-known public litigation for AT&T. Or, I drafted a patent application for Google. Hypotheticals ofc.

Thank

Maybe, but why? They'll be just as impressed if you say you did high profile telecommunications litigation and ip prosecution work. The actual names of clients are feathers in the firm's cap, not yours. The substantive work a junior, or student, does is inversely proportional to the fame of the client. I.e. It's like bragging that your the butler of a butler to Scorsese.


Note: autocorrect changed celebrity to "Scorsese". I wonder if "auto analogy" is the new feature you patented for Google

[Anonymous User]

Sorry to bump, but, is it not OK to talk about clients I represented in the past, outside of the M&A realm?

For example, tell an interviewer for a later job that during my 1L summer, I worked on a well-known public litigation for AT&T. Or, I drafted a patent application for Google. Hypotheticals ofc.

Thank

Maybe, but why? They'll be just as impressed if you say you did high profile telecommunications litigation and ip prosecution work. The actual names of clients are feathers in the firm's cap, not yours. The substantive work a junior, or student, does is inversely proportional to the fame of the client. I.e. It's like bragging that your the butler of a butler to Scorsese.


Note: autocorrect changed celebrity to "Scorsese". I wonder if "auto analogy" is the new feature you patented for Google

Makes sense... I was thinking, basically just to signal the nature of the work, not to brag about the client. And it seems a lot more natural, to me anyways. Like, if I say, I prosecuted a new software patent application for Uber, you know exactly what kinda technology space I'm talking about right away.

The way you phrased that sounds to me like you're just beating around the bush instead of just saying what you mean. Unless it's really expected that you should beat around the bush to avoid an ethical gray area or whatever

Idk, I'm sure you're right tho

Thank u.