What happens when you use an AI assistant for legal advice instead of a lawyer? A federal court in New York now has a clear answer: those conversations don't stay private.
In US v. Heppner, decided in the Southern District of New York in 2026, Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that conversations held with an AI tool do not qualify for attorney-client privilege - the legal protection that keeps communications between a client and their attorney confidential and out of court proceedings.
The Legal Reasoning
Attorney-client privilege covers only communications with licensed attorneys. It does not extend to accountants, therapists, financial advisors, or any other professional - no matter how legally relevant the subject matter. The court extended that same logic to AI: an AI assistant is not a licensed attorney, so conversations with it carry no privilege.
The practical consequence is direct. If you're involved in litigation and you consulted an AI assistant about your legal situation - even a tool marketed as a legal AI - those chat logs can be subpoenaed and used as evidence. Opposing counsel or prosecutors could introduce your own AI conversations to establish intent, awareness of legal risk, or factual admissions you made while asking for "advice."
What This Means for AI Legal Tools
This is a real concern for users of CoCounsel and similar AI legal research tools. The ruling doesn't prohibit using AI for legal work. Drafting briefs, researching case law, organizing documents, summarizing depositions - all of that remains legitimate. The risk is specific to using AI as a direct substitute for attorney consultation when discussing sensitive facts about your own situation.
The safest operating model: have legally sensitive conversations with a licensed attorney. Use AI for research and drafting under attorney supervision, and treat those AI sessions as you would a Google search - useful, but not private.
The ruling is narrow to this case, but it signals how courts are likely to treat AI-assisted legal work more broadly. Don't assume privilege where none exists.