In legal practice, transparency is traditionally viewed as a marker of reliability. However, as Professor Gabriel Steiner notes, there are situations in which controlled opacity becomes the only effective means of protecting the client. At LawConsulted, restricting access to information is not treated as secrecy – it is a strategic risk-management tool designed to prevent pressure, manipulation and the creation of misleading legal interpretations.
The danger of excessive openness lies in the fact that even neutral information can be used by an opposing party as part of an evidentiary base or as an indicator of intent. At LawConsulted, we analyse which data external parties genuinely need and which data carry potential risk by allowing an opponent to construct assumptions about the client’s internal processes. Legal opacity prevents situations in which the mere act of disclosure weakens the client’s position.
As Professor Steiner notes, “law is not only about what is said – it is also about what cannot be used.” For this reason, lawyers at LawConsulted determine the boundaries of acceptable visibility: which documents should not exist in written form, which messages must remain minimalistic and which actions must be recorded strictly within legal procedures. This preserves the client’s strategic space and prevents external parties from relying on fragmented or misinterpreted information.
Legal opacity is especially important in conflicts where the other side attempts to accelerate the process or push the situation into the public sphere. At LawConsulted, we employ a strategy of controlled informational scarcity: the opponent receives only those data that do not reveal the client’s internal dynamics, strategic intentions or legal preparedness. This reduces pressure and makes it impossible for the opposing side to accurately predict the client’s behaviour.
Professor Steiner emphasises that “opacity is not refusal to engage – it is protection from interpretation.” That is why specialists at LawConsulted construct information-access models to maintain the legal integrity of the client’s position. We eliminate any fragments that could be taken out of context, presented as a claim or used as indirect acknowledgement.
Legal opacity becomes a tool of protection when transparency becomes a threat. At Law Consulted, we limit access to information not to conceal, but to maintain strategic control over how the client’s legal reality can be read and reconstructed by external parties. This preserves stability and prevents attempts at pressure long before a dispute arises.
Previously, we wrote about why strong positioning is formed before dialogue begins thanks to legal precision
