AI and privilege after United States v. Heppner: what legal teams should know. Read the analysis →
Challenges · 02 of 06 · Reckless use of AI for legal purposes

Legal work in a consumer chatbot, with no lawyer in the loop.

Sales redlines an MSA. Procurement compares confidential bids. HR drafts a termination. Finance assesses a dispute. All of it with AI, none of it with counsel — and the output is confident, unrecorded, and unreviewed. Privilege AI pairs business leaders with legal in the same session.

ExposureNDA claims · acted-on bad advice · no record
PatternBusiness leaders unpaired from legal
Hit hardestSales · Procurement · HR · Finance
Governed by01 Privilege AI · 02 Watch · 03 Agent
What is at stake

The question was legal. The tool was not.

Every department now does legal-adjacent work with AI: contract summaries, redlines, bid comparisons, disciplinary letters, dispute assessments. The risk is not that the model is wrong — it is that nobody qualified saw the answer, the confidential inputs left the company, and there is no record of either.

The doc-level exposure is contractual: NDA and confidentiality claims from the counterparty whose MSA, bid, or financials were pasted in. The decision-level exposure is worse: a manager acts on an answer no lawyer reviewed, and the company inherits the consequence.

NDA / contract claimsUnreviewed adviceNo approval record
67%of GenAI users at work use non-corporate accounts.Verizon · 2026 DBIR
62%of breaches involve the human element.Verizon · 2026 DBIR
Very highrisk rating for a confidential agreement or legal strategy uploaded to unapproved AI.Privilege AI role analysis · Legal
Where it shows up

Business leaders who should be paired with legal.

Six roles from our department analysis where the task is routine and the legal exposure is not.

Sales · Account ExecutiveSummarizes and redlines customer MSAs and RFPs with AI.Exposure: confidential customer contracts in an unapproved public chat; NDA claims, customer loss, forensic response.01 Privilege AI · 02 Watch
Procurement · Strategic BuyerCompares confidential supplier bids and quotations with AI.Exposure: multiple suppliers' restricted quotes in an unapproved tool; supplier NDA claims and lost negotiating position.01 Privilege AI · 02 Watch
Human Resources · HR Business PartnerDrafts performance reviews and disciplinary communications.Exposure: sensitive evaluations or allegations in an unauthorized service; employee privacy claims and litigation complications.01 Privilege AI
Finance · FP&A AnalystAnalyzes confidential customer financial data and forecasts.Exposure: restricted financial statements pasted into a consumer AI tool; confidentiality or commercial disputes, lost business.01 Privilege AI · 03 Agent
Human Resources · RecruiterSummarizes CVs and compares applicants with AI.Exposure: identifiable CVs and assessments in a personal AI tool; privacy complaints and discrimination risk if AI affects decisions.01 Privilege AI · 02 Watch
Operations · Project / Delivery ManagerSummarizes client documents and project progress with AI.Exposure: restricted client specs and delivery files in an unapproved workspace; contractual confidentiality claims.01 Privilege AI · 03 Agent
How Privilege AI governs it

Fully authorized and managed by attorneys. Used by everyone else.

01 · Privilege AIPrimary
The privileged chat workspace for executives, managers, and HR.

The AE, the buyer, the HR partner work in a workspace counsel authorizes and manages. Legal questions escalate to the attorney in the session; the answer, its citations, and the approval are on the record.

Privilege AI
02 · Privilege Watch
Detects legal work happening elsewhere.

Detections from Claude, ChatGPT, and the Agent land in one queue for legal: the contract that was pasted, the dispute that was assessed, the letter that was drafted — before it is acted on.

Privilege Watch
03 · Privilege AI Agent
Flags the upload on the device.

When a counterparty document leaves for an unapproved tool, the workstation sensor alerts legal and compliance and keeps the evidence.

Privilege AI Agent
Models · Claude Fable 5.1 · Claude Opus 5.5 · ChatGPT Astra 6Web · Windows · Mac · iOS · AndroidEveryday AI use not affected
United States v. Heppner · AI & legal privilege

A confident answer still needs legal judgment.

A contract redline, termination draft, or dispute analysis can influence a consequential decision before legal sees it. Heppner adds another reason to involve counsel early: later legal review may not protect the original AI exchange. Give employees a clear route to counsel-directed work and a record of the sources and participants.

Executive sponsorCRO, CPO, or CHRO · with the General Counsel
Decision makerCISO or CIO · CFO for major spend
StakeholdersLegal · Security · Sales · Procurement · HR · the affected customer or supplier