Right to refuse to disclose information/duty of a lawyer
April 14, 2011 | 40,00 EUR | answered by Dr. Dr. Danjel-Philippe Newerla
A lawyer is chairman of the supervisory board of a small joint-stock company, whose registered shares are held by a single person. He himself manages the registered shares as a assignee.
Is this lawyer obligated to provide information to anyone about for whom he manages the registered shares in his safe, i.e. who they belong to? The lawyer says no, no one would find out who owns the shares. But does this apply to everyone? I can't imagine that, because he is definitely obligated to provide information to the tax office. And could the person who wants to know who holds the shares not also ask the chairman of the executive board? He would surely have to provide information.
Thank you very much.
Dear inquirer,
Thank you for your inquiry. I would like to answer it as follows:
Although I do not know the entire situation, from what I understand, the lawyer held the shares in trust.
In principle, the lawyer is already professionally obligated (attorney-client privilege) to maintain confidentiality about the matter, especially the client's name.
However, there are exceptions, as you have correctly assumed. For example, if the relevant public prosecutor's office suspects that a crime is involved with the shares (this is, of course, only a hypothetical scenario based on your description), they could inquire with the lawyer during the investigation, and the lawyer would generally have to provide information.
The same applies to the tax office, if they are investigating a tax offense or if they request documents regarding the shares or their whereabouts. This is, in my opinion, very unlikely, but theoretically possible.
In general, there could also be a general civil law claim for information based on § 242 BGB. This is the case when a person has a special legal interest in the information.
However, the right to information would then be against the holder of the shares and not against the administering lawyer. In this case, the lawyer is correct in stating that he is not obliged to provide information in the case of a civil law claim for information, but the holder of the shares may be obligated to do so.
I hope this has provided you with some initial legal guidance and wish you success and all the best!
I would like to point out the following:
The legal advice I have provided is based solely on the information you have provided. My response is only an initial legal assessment of the situation and cannot replace a comprehensive evaluation of the facts. Adding or omitting relevant information could lead to a completely different legal assessment.
I hope my explanations have been helpful. You are welcome to contact me with any further questions.
Wishing you a pleasant Thursday afternoon!
Kind regards from the North Sea coast,
Dipl.-Jur. Danjel-Philippe Newerla, Attorney
Stresemannstr. 46
27570 Bremerhaven
kanzlei.newerla@web.de
Fax. 0471/140244.
