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Privileged Communication

Baker Donelson

Your AI Prompts May Be Discoverable: What Every Client Must Know

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A recent federal court ruling has delivered a significant wake-up call to anyone who has used an artificial intelligence (AI) platform to research legal issues, understand their rights, or prepare for a conversation with an...more

Mandelbaum Barrett PC

Does Using AI Waive Attorney-Client Privilege? Recent Federal Courts Say: It Depends.

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As generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude become more common in litigation strategy and internal analysis, courts are beginning to confront a pressing question: Does using AI waive attorney-client privilege or...more

Hogan Lovells

Privilege as between company and former directors – UK High Court rules that company cannot assert privilege over legal advice

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In The Serendipity Centre Limited v Susan Tinson [2026] EWHC 349 (Ch), the High Court held that a company could not withhold legal advice from a former director who had already lawfully seen its contents. The information was...more

K&L Gates LLP

Questions to AI Models May Be Discoverable

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On 17 February 2026 in U.S. v. Heppner, 1:25-cr-503 (S.D.N.Y., Feb. 17, 2026), Judge Rakoff held that a defendant’s written exchanges with a public generative AI platform were not protected by the attorney-client privilege or...more

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

France Introduces Confidentiality Protection For Legal Opinions Prepared By In-House Lawyers - The Move Is A Significant Shift In...

The French Parliament has adopted landmark legislation establishing, for the first time, specific confidential status for legal opinions prepared by in‑house lawyers (juristes d’entreprise). This marks a significant shift in...more

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

Privilege And AI: When AI-Generated Documents Are Not Protected

Two recent US cases have considered whether communications involving AI tools are protected by attorney–client privilege or the work product doctrine. While these decisions arise under US law, the principles – particularly in...more

Rivkin Radler LLP

Federal Court Rejects Privilege Assertion for AI-Generated Research

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On November 4, 2025, federal agents arrested Bradley Heppner and seized thirty-one AIgenerated documents created for the express purpose of obtaining legal advice. See United States v. Heppner, No. 25-cr-503 (JSR), 2026 WL...more

Freeman Mathis & Gary

Massachusetts court holds designating former attorney as expert witness waives attorney client privilege

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The Massachusetts Superior Court recently issued a notable discovery ruling that serves as an important reminder for litigants who consider naming a former attorney as an expert witness. In Cummings v. Deloitte, the court...more

Dentons

Landmark AI Rulings Impacting All

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Generative AI tools have quietly moved from novelty to fixture in how lawyers and their clients research, write, and prepare for litigation. Two US federal courts just issued the first rulings of their kind addressing the...more

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP

AI and Legal Privilege: Lessons from the Heppner and Warner Rulings in the United States

Two recent decisions from U.S. federal courts have produced strikingly different outcomes on whether materials generated using AI tools are protected by privilege or work-product doctrine. Both cases involved individuals or...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Canadian Law Firm Loses Daffy Argument About Privilege Issue

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Clients can lose privilege protection through explicit waiver (caused by disclosure), implied waiver (usually caused by reliance on undisclosed privileged communication to gain some litigation advantage), or as a sanction for...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

When clients use AI: SDNY Court signals boundaries of privilege and work product protection

On February 17, 2026, the Honorable Jed S. Rakoff of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a written decision with potentially far reaching implications for whether documents created using...more

Proskauer - Minding Your Business

Michigan Federal Court Protects AI-Assisted Litigation Work Product

Courts issued two seemingly conflicting rulings on whether AI generated materials are protected. Heppner (S.D.N.Y.) found that documents created with a consumer version of Claude AI were not privileged or work product because...more

Dickinson Wright

Dear Counsel, Meet Exhibit A: Your Client’s ChatGPT History

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Depending on which court you ask, your latest prompt to an artificial intelligence (“AI”) chatbot is either a protected private thought or a voluntary disclosure to someone other than your lawyer....more

EDRM - Electronic Discovery Reference Model

[Webinar] Important eDiscovery Case Law Decisions for March 2026 - March 17th, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET

You’re in luck – we have eDiscovery case law! In our March 2026 monthly webinar of cases covered by the eDiscovery Today blog, we will discuss disputes related to waiver of attorney-client privilege on communications,...more

Cohen & Gresser LLP

SDNY Rules That AI-Generated Documents Are Not Privileged

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In an opinion addressing an issue of first impression, a federal judge ruled last week in United States v. Heppner that information a user input into a generative AI platform pertaining to an anticipated criminal case against...more

Troutman Amin LLP

TAKE THAT!: $46,502.50 Sanctions Award Against TCPA Plaintiff’s Lawyers Highlights Importance of Mediation Privilege

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So Troutman Amin, LLP famously earned a very high sanction in a case that did NOT involve fake AI briefing (ha.) Well Humana earned a strikingly high sanctions award against a TCPA plaintiff– and I must say it appears to have...more

Tannenbaum Helpern

Think Before You Prompt: Federal Court Rules AI Communications May Jeopardize Attorney-Client Privilege

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The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently signaled an important warning for both corporate and individual litigants (be it potential or actual), intent on using generative artificial intelligence...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Federal Court Rules Communications with an AI Model About Legal Strategy Are Not Protected by Privilege

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A federal court ruled that communications by a non-attorney with a public AI tool about legal strategy are not protected by attorney-client privilege or the work-product doctrine....more

McGuireWoods LLP

S.D.N.Y. Emphasizes That the Common Interest Doctrine Is Not a Separate Privilege

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The common interest doctrine can sometimes protect communications among separately represented clients who share an identical legal interest in litigation or anticipated litigation. But that doctrine is not a separate legal...more

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

New York Court Finds That Client Chats With Claude Are Not Privileged

In a February 17, 2026 ruling in U.S. v. Heppner, No. 25 Cr. 503 (S.D.N.Y.), the District Court for the Southern District of New York held that written exchanges between a criminal defendant and a publicly available...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Heppner v. Claude: The First Privilege Waiver by AI Ruling—What Lawyers and Clients Must Know

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Key Point: In a question of first impression, a federal judge’s ruling that documents a client’s prompts to a generative AI system—and documents generated by AI to share with counsel—are not protected by the attorney-client...more

Hogan Lovells

The emerging rules of the road governing AI prompts and outputs in discovery

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It is an increasingly common reality facing clients, counsel, and courts alike: to what extent are user prompts and AI-generated outputs discoverable in civil litigation or criminal proceedings? More and more, the familiar...more

Cranfill Sumner LLP

AI Use, Privilege, and Litigation Risk: Lessons from United States v. Heppner

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Artificial Intelligence chatbots are ubiquitous at this point. Millions of Americans use these tools daily in both their professional and personal lives. They’re great tools for quickly compiling information, gaining insight...more

Sullivan & Worcester

AI as a Legal Tool: What Companies Need to Know

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Companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence ("AI") platforms to obtain legal information. In the intellectual property context, common uses include freedom-to-operate searches, claims drafting, and...more

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