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I think that the lawyer has also breached trust with his firm, which could cause them to lose business. I would not be hiring them in anything requiring secrecy if he was still employed there.
And it would make it possibly bring on a bit of wisecracking, the next time he or his colleagues refused to impart confidential information.
And as the extent of the harm done was not evident when the secret was disclosed, I don't think the penalty should depend on that although I know it does apply in other areas such as criminal law.
It says a lot that Rowling's family or friends or publisher, who may have known the secret and may have had something to gain by disclosing it, didn't, and a lawyer who can only lose by doing so could not resist the chance to be a bigshot person in the know.
Helen
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