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Asked by: Tona Jablontzev
business and finance legal services industryWhat does candor toward the tribunal mean?
Labeled under the title “Candor Toward the Tribunal,” Model Rule 3.3(a)(2) reads that “a lawyer shall not knowingly … fail to disclose to the tribunal legal authority in the controlling jurisdiction known to the lawyer to be directly adverse to the position of the client and not disclosed by opposing counsel.”
Just so, what is a candor in law?
Duty of candor refers to duty of a public authority to disclose material facts. The general duty of candor requires attorneys to be honest and forthright with courts. The attorneys should also refrain from deceiving or misleading courts either through direct representations or through silence.
Keeping this in consideration, can a lawyer knowingly let his client lie when testifying?
3.3 states as follows: (a) A lawyer shall not knowingly: If only a portion of a witness's testimony will be false, the lawyer may call the witness to testify but may not elicit or otherwise permit the witness to present the testimony that the lawyer knows is false.
It's rare for lawyers to commit perjury for the simple reason that lawyers generally do not make statements under oath--that's what witnesses do. Instead, lawyers make arguments based on the testimony of witnesses, but they don't do so under oath. Perjury is a crime no matter who commits it.