Legal AI Usage Policy: Protecting Attorney-Client Privilege in the Age of AI

AI tools have transformed legal work. Associates use ChatGPT to draft contract clauses, summarise depositions, and research case law. The efficiency gains are real — but so is the risk.

Pasting privileged communications or confidential client information into a public AI service can, in certain jurisdictions, waive attorney-client privilege. It can also breach client confidentiality obligations under professional conduct rules.

This guide covers what legal teams need to protect and how Pretzel enforces it.

What to Protect

Attorney-Client Privileged Communications Any communication between attorney and client made for the purpose of seeking or providing legal advice is potentially privileged. When that communication is pasted into ChatGPT, you have shared it with a third party — a classic privilege waiver risk.

Pretzel's approach: keyword blocklist on client names and matter numbers, scoped to the legal team. Associates are warned (or blocked) before submitting prompts containing these terms.

Confidential Client Information Beyond privilege, lawyers have professional duties of confidentiality that are broader than the attorney-client privilege. Client business plans, financial information, and negotiation strategies that appear in AI prompts can breach these duties even if not technically privileged.

Work Product Attorneys' mental impressions, conclusions, and legal strategies prepared in anticipation of litigation are protected work product. Prompts discussing litigation strategy carry work product doctrine risk.

Recommended Pretzel Rules for Legal Teams

Rule 1: Matter Number Detection Import your firm's matter number format as a regex pattern. Action: Block for external AI, Allow for pre-approved internal tools.

Rule 2: Client Name Blocklist Maintain a keyword blocklist of current client names and matter codenames. Scope to the legal team division. Action: Warn with required approval, or Block.

Rule 3: Document Classification Markers Keyword block on terms like "PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL", "ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT", "CONFIDENTIAL — DO NOT DISTRIBUTE". Action: Block.

Rule 4: Deposition and Filing Keywords Keyword block on party names and case identifiers from active matters. Action: Warn.

Implementation Notes

• Scope all rules to the Legal team or matter teams only. Other departments should not be affected.
• Use Pretzel's Division hierarchy to separate litigation, transactional, and compliance teams with different policy strictness.
• Review and update the client name blocklist quarterly or after major client roster changes.

The Pretzel Legal template is pre-configured with rules 1-3. Activate it in one click from the Console.