Use active verbs, with the following exception: 

Place the most important part of a sentence at the end and the second-most important part at the beginning. If necessary, make the verb passive to accommodate this.

Here’s a statement with an active verb: “I treat client information confidentially.”

The most important word, “confidentially,” is properly placed at the end.

The second-most important phrase is “client information.” Ah, but that phrase is buried in the middle of the sentence where it doesn’t belong. It belongs at the beginning, in place of “I.”

The change is just as well. Except for memoirs, authors should keep themselves out of the story.

Here’s the improved sentence with the verb passive: Client information is treated confidentially.

There, that’s better.