Practice sale disclosure

Definition

The narrow permission that lets a seller show client files to a buyer without asking every client.

Why It Matters

Client confidentiality binds the seller and it binds hard: California forbids disclosing confidential client information without the client's written permission, then carves out one path for a sale, which is a written nondisclosure agreement between the two firms covering everything shared. Washington's board allows the same review and attaches no such condition, so the gate is a state question before it is a deal question. Sign the nondisclosure agreement before a single file moves, keep a record of what was shared, and read the state's own rule instead of assuming diligence works the way it does in an unregulated trade.