Federal Court Rules That AI-Generated Documents Are Not Protected by Privilege

[Special thanks to Stephen R. Akers (Attorney, Dallas, Texas) for bringing this article to my attention.]

In a decision with significant implications for any non-lawyer who uses artificial intelligence tools to research or analyze legal matters, Judge Rakoff of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, in United States of America v. Heppner, 25-cr-00503-JSR, ruled on February 10, 2026 that documents generated through a public AI platform were not protected by the attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine. Specifically, the Court granted the Government’s motion to access documents that defendant Bradley Heppner created using the AI tool Claude before his arrest on federal fraud charges.

The Court orally granted the Government’s motion from the bench on February 10, 2026, holding that Heppner failed to meet his burden of establishing both attorney-client privilege and the work product privilege over the AI Documents.

While this ruling is based on fundamental and well-established rules regarding attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine, and thus is not necessarily surprising, it nevertheless has potentially far-reaching consequences for non-lawyer individuals and organizations who use public AI tools to research legal matters.

Clients and counsel should carefully consider these implications before using public AI tools to analyze confidential legal matters. Further, organizations may want to review their policies and procedures regarding the use of public AI tools in connection with legal matters, particularly in the context of ongoing or anticipated litigation.

For more information see “Federal Court Rules That AI-Generated Documents Are Not Protected by Privilege,” Chapman.com, February 16, 2026.