Recently I was driving through a small community when I came across a small Baptist Church whose sign read ” The Ability to Lie is a Liability”.
This is such a true statement. I cannot tell you the number of times I have been speaking to fellow attorneys and I have heard “My client told me … but when I check it out I discovered he/she had just blatantly lied to my face.” This seems to be something that plagues the legal field. However, I cannot stress enough how important it is to be COMPLETELY HONEST with your attorney.
I tell my clients to tell me the truth, that I may not like the truth, but if I know the possible fact that may rear its evil head, I can try to get ahead of it or at least prepare for it. When a fact that the client has failed to disclose, lied about or skirted around, is brought to light while the client is on the stand, it damages the client’s position in the matter and many times it makes the attorney look incompetent (although we cannot control our client’s actions).
If one of my client’s flat-out lies to me, that is grounds for immediate termination of representation. And if I catch my client “skirting around” or “shading” the truth, I give him/her a strict warning and if it happens again representation is immediately terminated.
Please remember, your attorney is on your side and attorney-client privilege exist, so tell your attorney the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God. If you do, I can just about guarantee, your attorney can find a remedy or positive way to use the information you provided, no matter how bad you may think it is.