#186 - AI & Legal Privilege

#186 - AI & Legal Privilege

From Law of Code by Jacob Robinson

April 20, 2026 · 42 min · Episode 186

About this episode

The episode explores how AI impacts legal privilege and the implications for attorney-client confidentiality.

Does attorney-client privilege exist when you use ChatGPT or Claude? Should it? Jacob Robinson sits down with Mike Katz, Partner at Manatt Phelps & Phillips, to examine whether attorney-client privilege, work product or any analogous protection applies when people ask AI chatbots legal questions. Timestamps: ➡️ 0:00 — Background ➡️ 1:47 — What is attorney-client privilege? ➡️ 2:44 — Policy reasons for narrowing privilege ➡️ 3:30 — The Upjohn case (1981) ➡️ 4:34 — Privilege vs. work product doctrine ➡️ 5:17 — Three elements to establish privilege ➡️ 7:23 — Consumer AI terms of service and confidentiality ➡️ 8:09 — How you lose privilege ➡️ 11:30 — War stories ➡️ 15:39 — Vibe lawyering ➡️ 19:09 — Could Anthropic, OpenAI be liable? ➡️ 22:48 — The Heppner case (2026) ➡️ 26:26 — The Kovel doctrine (1961) ➡️ 28:14 — Incognito mode & deleted chats ➡️ 30:59 — The policy question ➡️ 34:00 — This is not a new problem ➡️ 37:05 — Are lawyers coal or horses? Jevons Paradox Sponsor: Day One Law, a boutique corporate law firm that provides strategic legal counsel to startups, crypto projects, and Web3 innovators. ⁠You can get in contact with them via this link⁠: ⁠⁠…

People in this episode

Host: Jacob Robinson

Guest: Mike Katz

Topics covered

  • AI and legal privilege
  • attorney-client privilege
  • legal framework
  • AI chatbots
  • confidentiality
  • policy questions

Keywords

  • AI
  • legal privilege
  • attorney-client privilege
  • confidentiality
  • chatbots
  • policy
  • law

Sponsors

Day One Law

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Products: Claude, ChatGPT

More episodes of Law of Code

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Law of Code podcast page.