Lawyer-client confidentiality in Italy: what is protected
Italian law protects the relationship in three separate ways: the lawyer may decline to give evidence about what they learned professionally, disclosing it is a criminal offence, and specific rules restrict searches, seizures and interception involving a lawyer's premises, correspondence and communications with a client.
The three protections
| Protection | Content | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Right to decline to testify | On matters known by reason of the profession | Art. 200 c.p.p. |
| Guarantees for the defence lawyer | Limits on searches, seizures and interception | Art. 103 c.p.p. |
| Correspondence with the client | Seizure prohibited, save where it is the object of the offence | Art. 103 |
| Communications with the client | Interception prohibited | Art. 103 |
| Unusability | Material obtained in breach cannot be used | Art. 103 and 271 c.p.p. |
| Disclosure by the lawyer | A criminal offence | Art. 622 Criminal Code |
The last line is the one clients rarely know: confidentiality is not merely a professional duty owed to you but an obligation whose breach is criminal. It is also why the duty applies to someone who consulted a lawyer and then instructed a different one, or nobody at all.
What is covered, and from when
Protection attaches from the first consultation, not from the moment fees are agreed or the appointment is filed. That matters in practice because the most sensitive conversation is often the first one, before any decision has been taken.
It covers what the client says, the documents they hand over, and what the lawyer learns in the course of the work, including from defence investigations. It does not cover a communication that is itself the instrument of an offence — advice sought in order to commit one is not protected, and that is the limit the rules preserve.
Searches at a lawyer's office
A search or inspection at a lawyer's premises may only take place in the cases the code allows, and the local bar council must be notified so that its president or a delegate may attend. That presence is not decorative: it is what makes the limits enforceable at the moment they are being tested.
Where the material seized falls within the protection, it cannot be used, and the objection has to be raised at once. Material that has been examined and copied is difficult to unwind later, however clear the rule.
Your own devices
This is where the protection is most often lost. A client's phone or laptop contains the correspondence with their lawyer, and a forensic copy takes everything indiscriminately.
- Say at the moment of seizure that the device contains correspondence with your lawyer, and ask for it to be recorded.
- Ask that the extraction be limited by correspondent, keyword and date range.
- Appoint a technical expert where notice of the extraction is given, which is required where the operation cannot be repeated.
- Ask for protected material to be segregated or returned rather than retained.
- Raise the objection immediately: it is far weaker once the material has been read.
The general framework on seizure of devices is in getting seized property back and on digital evidence in cybercrime and digital evidence.
In custody
Communications between a person in custody and their defence lawyer are confidential, and visits by the lawyer are not counted against the allowance for family visits. The only permitted restriction is the limited deferral the code allows in the first days after an arrest, ordered by a judge with reasons.
Where more than one country is involved
Protection is not uniform across jurisdictions, and material gathered abroad may have been obtained under rules that would not apply here. Whether it can then be used in Italian proceedings is a real question and it is raised too rarely, particularly where the transfer took place through European instruments, as discussed in cross-border investigations.
Frequently asked questions
Is what I tell a lawyer in Italy confidential?
Yes. The lawyer may decline to give evidence about it, disclosure is a criminal offence, and specific rules restrict searches, seizures and interception.
Does it apply before I formally instruct them?
Yes. Protection attaches from the first consultation, including where you go on to instruct someone else or nobody at all.
They seized my phone, which has messages with my lawyer.
Say so at the moment of seizure and ask for it to be recorded, then ask for the extraction to be limited and protected material segregated.
Can they intercept calls with my lawyer?
No. Communications between an accused person and their defence lawyer may not be intercepted, and anything obtained in breach cannot be used.
If protected material has been taken
The objection is strongest at the moment of seizure and weakens quickly. First contact is free and covered by professional privilege.