American Bar Association mulls shift in client confidentiality.(Chicago Tribune)

CHICAGO _ Citing a need to protect innocent people and the judicial system from harm, an American Bar Association commission is suggesting a controversial change to the rules that govern lawyer-client confidentiality.

In a recommendation to the association's House of Delegates, the commission proposes a change to the code of ethics that would let lawyers break a client's confidence if doing so would prevent "reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm" to another person. Under the change, lawyers also would be allowed to sound the alarm about dangerous products.

The delegates are scheduled to consider the proposal early next week, at the bi-annual meeting of the ABA's policy-making body in Chicago.

The proposed change would modify the ABA's model rules of professional conduct, which serve as guidelines for state …