In a significant ruling affecting the attorney-client relationship in the Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court this week extended the attorney-client privilege to all communications from the lawyer to the client. The court’s decision overrules a 2007 Supreme Court decision that limited the privilege to client communications to the attorney.
David J. Rosenberg, a partner in the Pittsburgh office of Weber Gallagher, represented the prevailing party in the case,
Gillard v. AIG (case no., date). Mr. Rosenberg argued that the codification of the attorney-client privilege did not change or limit the essential nature of the privilege as it was originally established in Pennsylvania under common law, and that the statute providing the protection can be read as consistent with common law. He further argued that the scope of the attorney-client privilege must be inclusive of communications from an attorney to a client in order to protect the public-policy rationale for the privilege.
“This is good news for lawyers and their clients who do business in Pennsylvania,” Mr. Rosenberg commented. “It’s also important to note that the decision doesn’t just affect lawyers in private practice but general counsel as well.”
A copy of the decision can be found at
http://www.aopc.org/OpPosting/Supreme/out/J-58-2010mo.pdf.