Who Is Held Liable for Breach of Confidentiality?

Hello, I have been working part-time for a paralegals office since the beginning of April. I was brought on as a student, participating in a one year certificate program where you earn college credits by receiving on the job training.
Recently I received a call from my supervisor's wife (the owner/founder of the business) stating that a client called her in a panic, and I was being accused of breaching confidentiality. The story was that a relative of this clients ex confronted the client stating that they knew what this client was doing and that we (the name of the paralegal business) were drawing up legal documents for her and that I (my name specifically) had told them everything.
Now to give you a clearer picture of the circumstances, from the time of my interview I have been warned by my supervisor not to become too close with his wife because their past secretary had and it led to her dismissal. This has made me feel as if I were put into the middle of my bosses' personal drama and created much unneeded stress. When the pressure came to a head, my supervisor's wife came into the office and had a private meeting with just her and I. My supervisor appeared to be very displeased with the whole situation, not even returning my parting "goodbye" as I left, nevertheless, this meeting made me feel much better and I left work that day feeling great. That night is when I received the phonecall from his wife.
Three days before this, I had picked up said clients' file and informed my supervisor that I was acquainted with the clients' ex, through a mutual friend. In hindsight, I realize I never should have said anything, seeing as how it made no difference to the case because we do not represent, only prepare documents. However, hindsight is 20/20.
Since the night of the phone call and original allegations, my supervisor made a call to my student counselor and proceeded to make false accusations that he'd fired me for a breach of confidentiality and that I had compromised two of his clients and implied that he intended to take legal recourse against the school.
As I stated, these allegations are false, and there is indeed more to this story, however I feel this post is lengthy enough without additional facts. So, in short, here is what I am looking to find out: When there is no evidence that a receptionist/legal assistant trainee conveyed any confidential client information, and said receptionist also never signed any contracts or agreements regarding confidentiality, what legal recourse could their supervisor take? My understanding of the law is that when office personnel breaches confidentiality, their supervisor (i.e. the attorney) is the one who would be legally liable to the bar association. Would this also apply with a paralegal? (I am very seriously considering sueing for slander in view of the fact that this has cost me the schooling program I was in, since we live in a small community and my ex-supervisor is voicing false accusations, which is ruining my reputation and therefore costing me any potential employment opportunities within my chosen career field. The problem is that I live on a very fixed income and so cannot afford the extravagance of an attorney. Is it possible to find an attorney that could take my case and file a petition for the ex-bosses to pay my attorney fees?) Any comments/suggestions are VERY much appreciated! Thanks!

*I would also like to add that the night following the original allegations, the story changed dramatically. Now the alleged facts are that a concerned female relative of this clients' ex came to her work to convey that someone had "leaked" information and the client's ex was aware of the "Show Cause" she was filing. This relative had supposedly been at a family gathering where, you guessed it, my mutual friend with the ex was supposedly present as well. Now they say there was never any mention of my name or the name of the business. However, the mutual friend was not present nor aware of any family gatherings, and neither was cleints' ex, and I was completely unaware of what type of documents the business was writing for this client.* Thanks again! Sorry this is so lengthy!!!!

It will be hard to find a contingency lawyer for this.

But you can tell the ex-supervisor that if he continues you will consider court action for slander. That alone may cause him to moderate.

I was trying to get help from a tribal program for a utility bill. The social service worker that was working on my case called the electric company to find out my balance so she could pay the bill. I had to go over to the office o finish up my paper work so she could get pay. She told me when she called the electric company that the lady she was talking to didnt speak to highly of my husband and I. She said that the lady was more less bad mouthing my husband and i about how we are always paying our bills on time. We always have our utility cut off. The social service lady said that she just had to interrupt her and tell her that "I didnt call to hear all that, im trying to find out the balance so i can help them get their bill paid." She said that how she was talking about us, even made her mad cause if she can talk about us, she can be talking about her too. That made me really mad when she told me that, so i called the president of the headquarters where the electric company was located. I asked the president if their was a private policy on their customers. I told her what had happened, she apologized and told me that they were not suppose to be giving that kind of info out. She would find out who that person was. She said that she would call me back and i did not ever hear from her since. Thats been almost a year ago.