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In re Pressly | 160 Vt. 319, 628 A.2d 927 (1993)
Under the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, attorneys are generally bound to keep their clients’ secrets and not disclose any confidential information without consent. But what if an attorney believes, despite contrary instructions from a client, that disclosure is best? Must the attorney shelve that belief and follow the client’s instructions not to disclose the information in question? Vermont’s highest court faced this question in the nineteen ninety three case In re Pressly.
Thomas Pressly, an attorney and member of the Vermont bar, was representing the wife in a divorce and child custody proceeding. The wife wanted the husband to have only supervised visitation rights, but Pressly told the wife that there were insufficient grounds to support her request. Subsequently, the wife confided in Pressly about her suspicions that the husband was sexually abusing their nine year old daughter. The wife told Pressly that she was planning on taking the daughter to see a doctor and instructed Pressly not to discuss any of this information with opposing counsel. But when opposing counsel asked Pressly direct questions about why the wife was insisting on supervised visitation and whether sexual abuse was involved, Pressly disclosed the suspicions of sexual abuse. When the wife learned about this disclosure, she fired Pressly and hired a new attorney.
Then the wife complained to Vermont’s Professional Conduct Board. The board ultimately recommended that Pressly be publicly reprimanded for disclosing the wife’s confidential information in violation of the rules of professional conduct. Pressly appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court.
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