Constitutional Guarantees Protecting Professional Secrecy in the Practice of an Attorney under US Law

The subject of the article is the types and characteristics of guarantees created to protect legal professional secrecy in the USA. It is inseparable from its character and role in the performance of the legal profession. The right to privacy is not without significance for the subject of the article, which is the fundamental value and the core of the relationship between the lawyer and the client. These guarantees are one of the most important factors in the legal protection of professional secrecy – crucial not only for the client, the lawyer himself, but also for the entire legal protection system. In particular, attention was paid to the main issues concerning legal secrecy in the Amendments to the US Constitution, which indirectly create a protective system for it.

The Bar, as a professional group dealing with defence and representation, has been developing on Polish lands at least since the beginning of the XVI century. However, only in the second half of the XIX century, so already after Poland was partitioned, the Bar association acquired its first self-government organization. The particularly intensive period of development of the Bar took place during the existence of the Second Polish Republic. The issue of legal basis of its functioning was regulated at the time. The old, unsystematic and post partition legislation was replaced with uniform and more modern law created by the Polish legislator. The rules which constitute the basis of the Bar association system were specified. The rule of equality of the legal profession as well as the rule of freedom and independence of the Bar association were the ones which gained the most importance. Furthermore, the issues connected with performing the legal profession were regulated and specified. Among the aforementioned issues were the following: the essential requirements necessary to perform the profession, the forms in which it is performed, the range of legal activities and the possibility of combining the legal profession with other activities, the rights and duties of a lawyer as well as disciplinary responsibility. Consequently, the interwar period was a short, albeit extremely important stage of the legal corporation’s development.