THE CLIENT’S NAME IS CONFIDENTIAL IN RESIDENCE AND CITIZENSHIP BY INVESTMENT FIRMS
Many residency by-investment, second passports by-investment and immigration by-investment firms love to advertise success stories. We want would-be clients to know the results we achieved for current clients. Nevertheless, publicizing specific results could lead to the disclosure of confidential information.
Many look to the Citizenship-by-investment world where salespeople say that new prospects buy based on who is at present a customer.
Several residency by-investment, second passports by-investment and immigration by-investment firms love to advertise success stories. We want would-be clients to know the results we achieved for current clients. Nevertheless, publicizing specific results could lead to the disclosure of confidential information.
Firms specializing in Citizenship-by-investment therefore must be cognizant of whether advertising a particular case or representation is likely to cause embarrassment or damage to the customer and ensure customer confidentiality.
DISCLOSURE OF A CITIZENSHIP-BY-INVESTMENT CLIENT'S IDENTITY: THE ETHICAL DILEMMA!
In view of the ethics of disclosing client names, firms specialized in Citizenship-by-investment may include in advertising the names of clients frequently represented by the firms provided that the client has given prior consent. This consent may be obtained as part of the original engagement letter, throughout the representation, or following the conclusion of representation. Absent particular client consent, however, we caution that firms specialized in Citizenship-by-investment have to judge whether advertising a specific representation would compromise client confidentiality.
Even though the identity of a client usually is not information protected by the firms specialized in Citizenship-by-investment -client privilege, the general nature of consultation may nevertheless constitute secrets of the customer that the firms specialized in Citizenship-by-investment may not disclose.
Firms specializing in second passport-by-investment that do not have specific authorization from a customer to publish their identity and nature of representation should be cautious in advertising these facts to other prospective clients. If the information is deemed confidential or is likely to cause embarrassment, the disclosure could violate the duty of confidentiality and lead to ethical and civil liability.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We at QICMS are not permitted to publish the client’s name in our advertising (or even in conversation), without written permission. We maintain that, even with written consent, we don’t need to do this and shouldn’t. Firms specializing in Citizenship-by-investment, residency by-investment, immigration by-investment, as well as their marketing folks are creative people. We can find other routes to disclose our knowledge of and expertise in the Citizenship-by-investment industry or any other industry in which we want to work. By knowing the correct advertising rules, you can create effective, ethical advertising—and attract new clients, new business, and greater success in the future.
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