This study of lawyer ethics found that about 30% of lawyers are willing to lie for their clients about a material fact, even though this is prohibited by the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. The authors presented 734 lawyers in Arizona and Missouri with a hypothetical scenario that explored their reaction to an improper request from their client and their understanding of their obligations under such circumstances.

In the scenario, their client's ex-girlfriend has told their client that during their relationship she was positive with DONS, a fatal STD, and had kept this information from him. Armed with this information, their client took two home tests for the disease that were positive. He then contacted the lawyer in order to pursue damages from his ex-girlfriend. She has suggested that they discuss settlement. Just prior to entering into talks, their client tells them that he had discovered his tests were false positives and he did not have the disease. He still wanted to punish his ex-girlfriend, so he asked that the lawyer not disclose this information in the settlement talks.

The lawyers were asked whether they would agree to this request, which had no conditions on it. In all, 19% said they would. The remaining 81% were given the same scenario again, but with a twist: the lawyers were asked not to disclose the information unless directly asked by the other attorney whether their client had the disease. This time, 13% said they would agree to their client's request. The authors cite a misunderstanding of rule 4.1 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct as one possible reason why so many said they would act upon their client's wishes. Rule 4.1 states that "...a lawyer shall not knowingly:

(a) Make a false statement of material fact or law to a third person; or

(b) Fail to disclose a material fact to a third person when disclosure is necessary to avoid assisting a criminal or fraudulent act by a client, unless disclosure is prohibited by Rule 1.6."

When asked whether their client's DONS status was a material fact, 16% said it was not. Further, 36% did not know that nondisclosure of his status was a misrepresentation not allowed by the Model Rules. Those who said they would agree not to disclose their client's DONS status were given a series of rationales for their decision and asked to rank them in importance to their decision. Two items were rated as most important: that disclosure was prohibited by the Model Rules and that it was prohibited by attorney-client privilege, both of which are false.