ABA Formal Opinion 515 discusses when a lawyer who is a victim of a crime by a bona fide client or prospective client may disclose otherwise confidential information about the representation.  Although it may seem evident that an attorney can report this type of information to the authorities or someone investigating the crime, Opinion 515 points out that in some circumstances there is actually no explicit exception to ABA Model Rule 1.6 that would allow disclosure. Accordingly, the Opinion finds that Rule 1.6 implicitly permits a lawyer “to disclose information about the client’s crime to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the relevant authorities to investigate and possibly prosecute the crime or to enable the lawyer to seek other services, remedy, or redress.” 

In reaching the above conclusion, Opinion 515 discusses four hypotheticals where a lawyer may be the victim of crime…