Pennsylvania Supreme Court to Decide Attorney-Client Privilege Case

In what will be a significant ruling affecting attorney-client relationships in the Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will soon determine whether the confidences shared between counsel and client extends to one-way communications originating from the attorney. On March 16, the Court granted allocatur in the case of Gillard v. AIG, in which the lower court limited application of the privilege to communications from the client directed to counsel. David J. Rosenberg, a partner in Weber Gallagher’s Pittsburgh office who now represents AIG, told The Legal Intelligencer that the facts of Gillard are distinguishable from a recent per curiam Supreme Court decision where a waiver of the privilege affected the outcome there. A decision in Gillard is expected to be handed down sometime in 2011.