Chile Lawyers Rebel Against Government Request for Client Data

By Tom Azzopardi, Bloomberg BNA

Chile’s bar association has called on members to refuse a request from the tax service (Servicio de Impuestos Internos) for information on clients and contracts, saying this amounts to a breach of attorney-client privilege.

“If lawyers are obliged to hand over information they possess, as the service requests, this represents a breach of the right to a defense bestowed on clients,” the Colegio de Abogados said in a Dec. 19 statement.

The bar association went further, saying “confidentiality is at the heart of attorney-client relationships.”

According to the lawyers, the tax authority’s request — in ...