Last Friday marked a victory in the protection of the basic right to a fair trial in New York’s legal system as governor Cuomo signed a bill that Assemblyman Dinowitz introduced in the Assembly extending confidentiality protection between individuals and legal referral services.

In order to be directed to the appropriate lawyer, people often need to disclose the same information to a legal referral service that they would in an initial meeting with law office personnel or a lawyer. This information must often contain sufficient details about their legal issues to enable referral counselors to match consumers to an appropriate lawyer, government agency, or non-profit program. However, this information can include details that could cause damage to an individual’s criminal or civil case if revealed to adverse parties. Previously, legal statutes did not contain a confidentiality provision for communications between legal referral services and individuals who used them.

To rectify this, Assemblyman Dinowitz introduced a bill in the Assembly (A09029) to amend the Judiciary Law so that communications between an individual and their legal or lawyer referral service will be privileged similarly to attorney-client privilege and a concurrent bill was introduced by Senator Bonacic in the State Senate. The legislation took effect as of August 24, 2018.

“I was proud to sponsor this bill in the Assembly. As an Assemblyman, a lawyer, and now as the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, it is important for me to ensure that people of New York State are properly protected, including the protection of basic civil rights. This law marks a significant step in ensuring a New Yorkers right to a fair trial, and I thank the Governor and Senator Bonacic for recognizing its importance and working for New Yorkers on this issue,” said Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz.