I feel like there is no conflict here; in fact it is widely considered a deal-breaker for a client to be guilty and lie to their attorney about it. A client lying to a lawyer is one of the ethically accepted reasons to dump a client they have already agreed to serve. This isn’t even pro-forma; in practice, lawyers don’t blame one another for dumping clients that lie to them. Nor is it considered a black mark for future hiring with other law firms.
The important variables here are that the lawyer is constrained by the evidence, but they have a duty to their client. This is because lawyers are not fact finders; they are advocates. The American trial system employs the ‘arguments are soldiers’ system specifically and deliberately, then it has a lot of rules for setting a floor on how bad the arguments can be and relies on nominally-neutral third parties (a judge and/or jury) to assess them.
Consider that a lawyer can represent themselves, their family, or parties in whom they have a financial stake without conflict of interest. However it is considered a conflict of interest if they have a financial stake in the other party, or anything else that might compromise their commitment to advocacy of their client.
So at least in the American system, I put it to you that accepting the case with total certainty your client is guilty is both ethical and rational.
I feel like there is no conflict here; in fact it is widely considered a deal-breaker for a client to be guilty and lie to their attorney about it. A client lying to a lawyer is one of the ethically accepted reasons to dump a client they have already agreed to serve. This isn’t even pro-forma; in practice, lawyers don’t blame one another for dumping clients that lie to them. Nor is it considered a black mark for future hiring with other law firms.
The important variables here are that the lawyer is constrained by the evidence, but they have a duty to their client. This is because lawyers are not fact finders; they are advocates. The American trial system employs the ‘arguments are soldiers’ system specifically and deliberately, then it has a lot of rules for setting a floor on how bad the arguments can be and relies on nominally-neutral third parties (a judge and/or jury) to assess them.
Consider that a lawyer can represent themselves, their family, or parties in whom they have a financial stake without conflict of interest. However it is considered a conflict of interest if they have a financial stake in the other party, or anything else that might compromise their commitment to advocacy of their client.
So at least in the American system, I put it to you that accepting the case with total certainty your client is guilty is both ethical and rational.
Is it ok to omit facts to you lawyer? I mean is the lawyer entitled to know everything about the client?
Everything about the client *that is relevant to the case,* yes. Omitting relevant facts is grounds for terminating the relationship.