The Court of Law vs. the Court of Public Opinion: a Lawyer's Ethical Obligations in Making Comments to the Media

• Citation: Vol. 49 No. 1 Pg. 30
• Year: 2026
• Pages: 30

The Court of Law v. The Court of Public Opinion: A Lawyer's Ethical Obligations in Making Comments to the Media Vol. 49 No. 1 Pg. 30 Wyoming Bar Journal February, 2026

by Devon W. Petersen

It is a scene we are all familiar with: a lawyer stands on the steps in front of a courthouse, microphones arranged on microphone stands like a bouquet of flowers, journalists and cameras gathered below, competing with each other to ask a question the lawyer will answer. Perhaps a sheepish or righteous client stands just behind the lawyer. We see it both in movies and television, but also in actual cases. Perhaps it is a prosecutor informing the public of the current state of the investigation or promising that justice will be done. Perhaps it is a criminal defense attorney avowing that their client is innocent and that they look forward to being vindicated in court.

As common as this scene is, I don't believe I have ever seen anything like it in my career in Wyoming. Perhaps we don't often have cases that garner national attention, or perhaps we have lawyers that don't often seek the media spotlight, or perhaps we have attorneys who follow our ethical obligations more closely than these other real and fictional attorneys. Despite this lack of common occurrence in Wyoming, we have all likely had cases that have made us wonder: Could I communicate with the media about the case? Should I communicate with the media about the case?

Those questions lead us to the Wyoming Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys at Law. As an attorney, making any kind of statement about a case or client to anyone at any time about anything at all raises ethical questions. As we are well familiar by now, even acknowledging that you represent a client without the client's consent violates Rule 1.6(a), which states in pertinent part: "A lawyer shall not reveal confidential information relating to the representation of a client unless the client gives informed consent... [or] the disclosure is impliedly authorized in order to carry out the representation."

Rule 3.6 means that lawyers cannot try their cases in the court of public opinion, full stop. I often wonder about Rule 3.6 when I see lawyers making statements to the media, and how these other lawyers in other jurisdictions are not violating this Rule.

Thus, prior to communicating with the media about a case, the first step would be to get the client's informed consent. In doing so, the...