Transparency in government — that is, making available to the public as much information as is legally possible — is a good thing. That's what the city council of Monroe, Washington, thought when its members voted to post all the city's documents on line earlier this year.

The city instead found itself in a classic Catch 22 situation, running into a conflict with attorney-client privilege.

The city council had voted to post all documents in order to restore faith in its ability to govern after the community learned that a developer had avoided paying an $850,000 school tax impact fee.

In spite of the council's good intentions, the city's insurer said it would cancel coverage if the city released records that implied a waiver of attorney-client privilege if the records involved a lawsuit or personnel issue.

The ________________ Bar Association agrees in principle with making government as transparent as possible while at the same time protecting attorney-client privilege.

Many states and communities have open-meeting, or "sunshine," laws that require all meetings of governing bodies and appointed boards to take place at regularly scheduled times and to be open to the public. The only times when a board or committee should meet behind closed doors is when discussing a lawsuit or personnel concern.

That standard should apply to transparency on the Web as well. Communities should be encouraged to post as many of their records, minutes of meetings, written submissions or other documents as possible as long as those postings do not contain information related to either a lawsuit or a personnel issue.

In this instance, by using a reasoned approach, the _________ Bar Association believes that communities can achieve transparency on the Web while maintaining the integrity of attorney-client privilege.

That's what the Monroe City Council ultimately decided.

© 2008 American Bar Association