This seems like a spurious attribution of harm. If a client wants to take an ill-advised approach I expect the attorney to inform them that it is ill-advised and why, but I do not believe the attorney bears any blame for subsequent harm.
I think it also presumes that attorneys fill a role that they do not.
The law, and attorney professional conduct, presumes that litigants are reasonable, rational people who are entitled to weigh their own pros and cons and arrive at a conclusion. Attorneys are there to provide context and information, but are not the decision maker. Note that the 6th Amendment guarantees a person the right to counsel, but specifically says the defendant has the right to know the charges, face their accuser, etc.
You can see this in the competency standards for trial from Dusky v US:
"It is not enough for the district judge to find that 'the defendant is oriented to time and place and has some recollection of events', but that the test must be whether he has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding -- and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him."
Or Godinez v Moran:
"The standard adopted by the Ninth Circuit is whether a defendant who seeks to plead guilty or waive counsel has the capacity for "reasoned choice" among the alternative available to him."
Edit: Courts are also aware of and can accommodate sensitive sources. The ACLU could also drop the case at any point if discovery would require disclosing sensitive sources, same as NYPD have done.
> if people are harmed by your actions as an attorney that is my opinion of what should happen
This isn't how disbarment works. Given we're in an adversarial system, I'm glad it doesn't. (Could you imagine a lawyer refusing to advance litigation against a city because it would harm the city's taxpayers?!)
> This client does have a responsibility to protect their sources
An ethical responsibility. Not a legal one. Not the lawyer's job, and certainly not the legal bar's. That's not only presumptuous, it's unprofessional and potentially dangerous.
