Opinion ID: 1355868
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: protecting the confidentiality of trial counsel's files

Text: 3. The Civil Practice Act provides that a court, for good cause shown, may make any order which justice requires to protect a party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden. [38] The order may deny discovery, limit its scope to certain matters, or specify the terms and conditions under which it may be had. Waldrip seeks a protective order restricting disclosure of documents to the habeas proceeding and the attorney general's office, which represents the warden. In particular, he requests that the documents or their contents not be disclosed to law enforcement officers or prosecutors because it would chill his constitutional rights under the fifth and sixth amendments and make a fair retrial impossible. As support, Waldrip cites Commonwealth v. Chmiel. [39] In that case, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed a murder conviction and death sentence because the trial court permitted the state to introduce prior counsel's testimony concerning an ineffectiveness claim at the defendant's second trial. The court held that the policies inherent in the attorney-client privilege restricted the use, as well as the scope, of permitted disclosures because of the defendant's right to effective assistance of counsel and right against forced self-incrimination. Just as an attorney may not respond to allegations of ineffectiveness by disclosing client confidences unrelated to such allegations, so the client confidences properly disclosed by an attorney at an ineffectiveness hearing may not be imported into the client's subsequent trial on criminal charges. [40] Because Waldrip's petition has not been resolved and there is no pending trial, we do not need to address the issue raised in the Pennsylvania case concerning the use of an attorney's testimony at a client's subsequent trial. Rather, our inquiry is limited to the use of former counsel's files in this habeas proceeding. Having seen the potential problems that can be created by public disclosure and use of counsel's files, we conclude that the files retain their confidential nature despite the client's implied waiver of the attorney-client privilege in this habeas corpus proceeding. To protect the petitioner's constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel and against compelled self-incrimination, we hold that Waldrip is entitled to a protective order limiting disclosure in this habeas proceeding to persons needed to assist the warden in rebutting the claim of ineffectiveness. Judgment reversed.