Protecting Privilege in the Age of AI
Podcast: Are Legal Holds Protected by Privilege? Insights from the FTC's Battle with Amazon
False Claims Act Insights - Is DOJ Allowed to Share Privileged Documents with Whistleblowers in FCA Disputes?
In February 2026, the Honorable Jed S. Rakoff of the Southern District of New York decided yet another novel legal issue. This one relates to the use of AI, and may make you think twice before asking ChatGPT, Claude, or some...more
The shrapnel flew fast and far, and some fragments wound both sides. Which is why a subsequent federal ruling, Warner v. Gilbarco, Inc. out of Michigan, matters. It did not defuse the original bomb, and it did not neutralize...more
Imagine that you are an executive (who is not a lawyer) and are concerned about what your company plans to do is legal. You could call your lawyer who might bill you for the call. Or, you can ask your AI chatbot, such as...more
Have you, your paralegal, your client, your expert, etc. used public generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) to perform research while preparing for a USPTO invalidity proceeding as a challenger or patent owner?...more
AI Chat Privilege in Litigation: Warner v. Gilbarco and Heppner Point in Opposite Directions - Shortly after the ruling in Warner v. Gilbarco – where a court suggested that ChatGPT chat history could be covered by the...more
Two recent U.S. federal court decisions have attracted attention because they address legal privilege in the emerging context of artificial intelligence (“AI”). Although the cases arise from different factual contexts and...more
Can AI-Generated Legal Drafts Be Protected as Work Product? As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to accelerate across industries, it is unsurprising that courts are beginning to confront its implications in...more
For spouses who find themselves named as co-defendants, a recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice is a warning about the limits of spousal privilege....more
Last week’s Privilege Point described a pro se litigant’s losing evidentiary protection argument based solely on the narrow attorney-client privilege, rather than on the broader and presumably applicable work product...more
Sarah Sawyer and Russell Berger, at Offit Kurman, discuss how clients’ growing use of AI tools can jeopardize attorney-client privilege and confidentiality. They warn that entering sensitive facts into open AI platforms may...more
The rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence has transformed our lives and provided a powerful tool that can enhance efficiency, streamline research, and expand access to information. At the same time, AI integration...more
As artificial intelligence (“AI”) and generative AI (“GenAI”) tools become increasingly integrated into daily operations across industries, the legal industry is rapidly adapting. Law firms and companies of all sizes are...more
On February 13, 2026, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an opinion addressing whether non-attorney communications with a generative AI platform are protected by the...more
The construction industry has been quick to integrate AI into its business practices and efficiencies are being recognized. However, such adoption is not without risk. Two recent court rulings help to illustrate one risk...more
ComplexDiscovery Editor’s Note: AI has moved from speculative promise to operational reality in privilege review, and legal teams can no longer afford to treat it as an emerging side issue. Drawn from a Legalweek 2026 panel...more
ChatGPT had 1.8 billion UK visits in the first eight months of 2025. With the meteoric rise in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, we are inevitably...more
Two recent federal court decisions—issued one week apart—reach sharply divergent conclusions on whether materials generated using artificial intelligence (“AI”) platforms are protected by the attorney-client privilege or the...more
In United States v. Heppner, No. 25-cr-503 (JSR), 2026 WL 436479 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 17, 2026), the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recently held that a criminal defendant’s written exchanges...more
Courts reached conflicting conclusions on whether AI‑generated materials are protected. One court found no privilege for documents created with public AI tools; another upheld work‑product protection....more
On February 10, 2026, Judge Rakoff of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York answered that question with a “yes” in United States v Heppner....more
A federal judge recently concluded that the defendant in a white-collar securities dispute may not claim that his conversations with the artificial intelligence (“AI”) tool, Claude, are privileged. Litigators and clients now...more
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
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
In February 2026, two federal courts issued the first rulings addressing whether materials created using publicly available generative AI tools are protected by the attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine. ...more
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