You should always tell your lawyer the truth. You can't defend him effectively if you're lying to him. You may be so afraid of the possible punishment of being convicted of a crime that you are willing to lie to avoid consequences. However, lying to your lawyer or in court almost always makes things worse. For example, if you lie on the stand, it's a third-degree felony and you can be sentenced to between two and ten years in prison, in addition to the punishment you receive for the original offense.
Telling your lawyer that you plan to lie under oath puts you in a terrible situation. What you are considering is a serious crime. First, your lawyer is subject to ethical standards that prohibit you from withholding information from the court. This means that if you lie to your lawyer and he or she discovers the truth, your lawyer is required to report it to the court.
In other words, you basically painted white on your back lying to the only person who was supposed to help you. While there is nothing inherently unreasonable in relying on reasonable facts provided by a client, Rule 4.1 prohibits attorneys from knowingly making false statements and misrepresentations to others during litigation. In some cases, yes, you can sue to his lawyer for lying. But while lying isn't ethical, it may not always result in a lawsuit for legal negligence.
You should speak with a Connecticut legal negligence attorney to determine your rights. You may have the right to sue for damages, but suing you is costly in time and money. Or, there's always the option of filing a complaint against the lawyer, so you may not get compensation (they rarely grant money to the client who suffered the tort), but you should pay for a bad apple. An attorney may face consequences for lying, especially if the lie results in substantial financial harm to their client. Lawyers often trust their clients to provide them with information and facts to use in the course of a representation, even in litigation.
In fact, in most cases, attorneys will not know what events took place before the litigation without consulting and trusting their clients. A legal negligence lawsuit could be worthwhile if you suffered significant financial harm as a result of your lawyer lying to you. For example, imagine that the opposing lawyer made a settlement offer and your lawyer rejected it without telling you. The correct answer is to ask the lawyer to be relieved of the case, so that another lawyer can be appointed without saying why.
The allegation of facts “based on information and beliefs that then result in a discovery that is not substantiated” may not violate any obligation, but there may be a risk that the lawyer will continue to repeat the facts like a parrot even after learning that those facts are baseless. If you don't tell your lawyer the truth, you'll waste valuable time preparing a defense based on incomplete information or inaccurate. In one case, the Supreme Court approved a lawyer's statement to his client that, if he gave false testimony, the lawyer would question him, effectively question his own client and reveal the lies. It is reasonable and necessary for attorneys to trust their clients to provide them with facts and information related to representation, especially if the facts presented seem reasonable at first glance.
It's rare, but there are cases where lawyers reach an agreement and don't tell the client, leaving the lawyer with all the money. Rule 1.6 gives lawyers the ability to disclose information in certain cases, while Rule 4.1 requires the disclosure of information when the failure to disclose it helps the client to commit a criminal or fraudulent act.
