Attorney-client privilege protects communications between attorneys and their clients and keeps them confidential. In a lawsuit, neither the attorney nor the client can be forced to disclose attorney-client communications to the opposing party. Because the attorney cannot reveal attorney-client communications, the privilege promotes openness and honesty between attorneys and their clients. This is important, because in order to adequately represent a client, the attorney must have knowledge of all of the facts, whether good or bad. Because the attorney-client privilege protects corporations and other business entities as well as individuals, the attorney-client privilege enables university employees to speak openly and honestly with university attorneys without fear that the university will be forced to disclose these communications to third parties.