{"id":12208,"date":"2026-06-13T17:22:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T06:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com.au\/legal\/?p=12208"},"modified":"2026-08-07T14:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T03:13:10","slug":"your-clients-are-using-ai-anyway-and-its-creating-a-privilege-risk-lawyers-cant-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com.au\/legal\/posts\/your-clients-are-using-ai-anyway-and-its-creating-a-privilege-risk-lawyers-cant-control","title":{"rendered":"The privilege risk lawyers can\u2019t control"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Tyrilly Csillag, Director, Practical Law (Asia &amp; Emerging Markets), Thomson Reuters, and former in-house counsel<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Legal work doesn\u2019t end when advice is delivered. Once it leaves your desk, you lose visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Imagine this. Your client has a board meeting in an hour. The legal advice is 10 pages long. They need to be across it for the meeting so they paste your advice into ChatGPT on their mobile to get a summary on-the-go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Rose Dimitrious, Partner at Thomsons (formerly Thomson Geer) and Practical Law Australia Consultation Board Member acknowledged in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com.au\/en-au\/events\/webinar-legal-privilege-age-of-ai-risks-responsibilities-best-practice.html?cid=8077739&amp;chl=na&amp;sfdccampaignid=701PA00000mwQjFYAU\">recent webinar<\/a>, \u201cYou can absolutely see the temptation, and the time savings in taking those steps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is already how many clients work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The acceptance that AI is here to stay is growing, and the urgency is real. Legal teams are adapting \u2013 but so are their clients. And clients are often moving faster, using tools that sit entirely outside their lawyer\u2019s control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even lawyers that are not actively using AI can still be exposed to its risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<nav class=\"jump-nav\" style=\"\n  background-color:#ffffff;\n  border-left:6px solid #d64000;\n  padding:20px 24px;\n  margin:32px 0;\n\">\n\n  <p style=\"\n    margin:0 0 10px 0;\n    line-height:1.5;\n    font-weight:700;\n    color:#123015;\n  \">\n    Jump to:\n  <\/p>\n\n  <ul style=\"\n    margin:0;\n    padding-left:18px;\n    color:#123015;\n    line-height:1.6;\n  \">\n    <li>\n      <a href=\"#The risk lawyers can\u2019t control\" style=\"color:#d64000;text-decoration:none;\">\n        The risk lawyers can\u2019t control\n      <\/a>\n    <\/li>\n    <li>\n      <a href=\"#Why clients are reaching for AI, and what that means for privilege\" style=\"color:#d64000;text-decoration:none;\">\n        Why clients are reaching for AI, and what that means for privilege\n      <\/a>\n    <\/li>\n    <li>\n      <a href=\"#From advice to action\" style=\"color:#d64000;text-decoration:none;\">\n        From advice to action\n      <\/a>\n    <\/li>\n    <li>\n      <a href=\"#What lawyers can do now\" style=\"color:#d64000;text-decoration:none;\">\n        What lawyers can do now\n\n      <\/a>\n    <\/li>\n  <\/ul>\n\n<\/nav>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"The risk lawyers can\u2019t control\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The risk lawyers can\u2019t control<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most AI risk discussions focus on internal use: the tools lawyers choose, the safeguards they apply, and how they verify outputs. But that\u2019s only part of the picture. A growing share of risk sits with clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf information is provided to a generally accessible public generative AI tool,\u201d Rose explained, \u201cit may become available to other people, and users may not know where it\u2019s stored, how it&#8217;s used, who will have access.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That uncertainty is not theoretical. Courts are already asking whether AI tool use breaches confidentiality obligations, and in some cases, whether it may waive privilege entirely, regardless of the client&#8217;s intent, where no meaningful restrictions apply to the use of that data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The case law is moving quickly, and Thomson Reuters Practical Law recently covered this in \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com.au\/legal\/resources\/resource\/is-your-clients-legal-advice-training-ai-the-privilege-risk-no-lawyer-can-ignore?cid=8077739&amp;chl=na&amp;sfdccampaignid=701PA00000mwQjFYAU\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com.au\/legal\/resources\/resource\/is-your-clients-legal-advice-training-ai-the-privilege-risk-no-lawyer-can-ignore?cid=8077739&amp;chl=na&amp;sfdccampaignid=701PA00000mwQjFYAU\">Why clients should not put privileged advice into public LLMs\u2019<\/a>. In February 2026, in United States v Heppner, Judge Rakoff of the Southern District of New York held that documents a client had generated using a public AI tool were neither confidential nor privileged \u2013 and opined that even had they been privileged, that privilege was lost the moment the information was shared with the tool. In the UK Upper Tribunal, Judge Lindsley said that uploading confidential documents into an open-source AI tool such as ChatGPT \u201cis to place this information on the internet in the public domain, and thus to breach client confidentiality and waive legal privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Australian dimension is just as sobering. In Glencore International AG v Commissioner of Taxation [2019] HCA 26, the High Court found that once privileged documents had become extensively publicly available, the court had no basis to protect them \u2013 regardless of how they got there, or whether the client was at fault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is also a subtler exposure: litigation opponents may bring a \u201cfishing\u201d disclosure application if they suspect privileged material has been put into a public tool. A US federal court refused one such application in Warner v Gilbarco earlier this year \u2013 but the opponent still made the application, and the satellite litigation itself is a cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Linden Barnes, Senior Ethics Solicitor with The Law Society of New South Wales, Australia, noted during the above webinar: \u201cWhat we\u2019re dealing with is [new] technology and old rules.\u201d The principles haven\u2019t changed; professional obligations of confidentiality and maintaining client\u2019s privilege still apply. AI does not change the underlying obligations, but it can make mistakes happen faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"Why clients are reaching for AI, and what that means for privilege\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why clients are reaching for AI, and what that means for privilege<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Clients are under time pressure. They are working with complex advice. And they have tools that promise speed and simplicity, whether or not those tools are appropriate for the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The result is a specific privilege exposure that most organisations haven&#8217;t been asked to think about. As Rose explained, many organisations have policies that say something like &#8220;don&#8217;t use public AI tools for confidential information&#8221; but for someone who doesn&#8217;t deal with privilege regularly, &#8220;confidential information&#8221; might be taken to mean personal information or contact details. If lawyers don&#8217;t explain the why, the critical reasoning gets lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The practical advice Rose offered to clients is to ask three questions before using any AI tool for legal work: Is this a closed system? Is the information subject to legal professional privilege or some other confidentiality obligation? And can I demonstrate that my use of this tool is consistent with maintaining the confidential or privileged character of that information?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Helping clients move from the instinct to reach for a convenient tool to a genuine understanding of the privilege consequences is now part of delivering a complete legal service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"From advice to action\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">From advice to action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The most direct way lawyers can reduce the temptation is to make their advice easier to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Rose put it: &#8220;A simple and effective way that solicitors can help clients to feel as though they don&#8217;t need to rely on AI is really to summarise the advice \u2013 or don&#8217;t provide a lengthy advice in the first place, if you can avoid it, but if that is necessary, then provide a clear executive summary at the start of the written advice, and most importantly, provide that summary in plain English.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is no longer simply good client care. It is a privilege risk mitigation tool. And distilling complex legal advice into plain English guidance is something Thomson Reuters Practical Law has been known for around the world. As Tim Perry, Director of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com.au\/en-au\/products\/practical-law.html?cid=8077739&amp;chl=na&amp;sfdccampaignid=701PA00000mwQjFYAU\">Practical Law Australia<\/a> for Thomson Reuters, put it: \u201cLawyers don&#8217;t just need fast answers. They need fast answers they can rely on, because they trust the expertise behind them. If you don&#8217;t have that trust, time spent verifying fast answers actually slows you down. Real value in this space comes from turning legal knowledge and practice experience into something practical, clear and ready to use. This is why lawyers choose Practical Law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That reframes the standard for what clients now expect from legal delivery. Accurate advice still matters, but clients also need something they can use quickly, check confidently, and apply in practice \u2013 without reaching for a public tool to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That requires deliberate choices about tools and workflows. Legal teams need to understand not just what a tool can do, but how it handles information \u2013 whether it reuses data, who can access it, and whether that aligns with maintaining privilege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The practical test, raised throughout the webinar, is a simple one: can I trace this output back to its source, verify that the source is current and authoritative, and demonstrate that the reasoning connecting the two is sound? Purpose-built legal platforms \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com.au\/en-au\/products\/practical-law.html?cid=8077739&amp;chl=na&amp;sfdccampaignid=701PA00000mwQjFYAU\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com.au\/en-au\/products\/practical-law.html?cid=8077739&amp;chl=na&amp;sfdccampaignid=701PA00000mwQjFYAU\">Practical Law<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com.au\/en-au\/products\/westlaw-advantage-australia.html?cid=8077739&amp;chl=na&amp;sfdccampaignid=701PA00000mwQjFYAU\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com.au\/en-au\/products\/westlaw-advantage-australia.html?cid=8077739&amp;chl=na&amp;sfdccampaignid=701PA00000mwQjFYAU\">Westlaw<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com.au\/en-au\/products\/cocounsel.html?cid=8077739&amp;chl=na&amp;sfdccampaignid=701PA00000mwQjFYAU\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com.au\/en-au\/products\/cocounsel.html?cid=8077739&amp;chl=na&amp;sfdccampaignid=701PA00000mwQjFYAU\">CoCounsel<\/a> \u2013 are designed to answer that question. Public generative AI tools are not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"What lawyers can do now\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">What lawyers can do now<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You may not be able to prevent clients from using AI. But you can reduce the likelihood \u2013 and the impact \u2013 of risky behaviour. And the questions are starting to come the other way too: the <a href=\"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com.au\/legal\/resources\/resource\/2026-state-of-the-corporate-law-department-report?cid=8077739&amp;chl=na&amp;sfdccampaignid=701PA00000mwQjFYAU\">2026 State of the Corporate Law Department Report<\/a> found that more than half of corporate counsel believe their external firms should be using AI, while two-thirds say they do not know how their external firms are approaching it. Closing that gap \u2013 being able to say clearly which tools you use, how you verify outputs, and how you protect privilege \u2013 is becoming a competitive question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Make advice easier to use:<\/strong>&nbsp;include a clear executive summary in plain English with practical next steps and the decisions the client needs to make. This reduces the incentive for clients to reach for a public tool to do the summarising themselves.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Explain AI risk in plain English:<\/strong>\u00a0go beyond data security. Help clients understand the specific question of whether their conduct in handling information is inconsistent with maintaining its privileged character \u2013\u00a0most clients simply haven&#8217;t been asked to think about it in those terms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Give clients the three-question test outlined above: <\/strong>and build it into onboarding, not just written policy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Build repeatable internal workflows:<\/strong>&nbsp;give teams guidance, checklists and drafting support so they do not solve the same AI-risk questions from scratch.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Keep legal guidance current:<\/strong>&nbsp;AI risk is moving quickly, so teams need a reliable way to track legal and professional developments. \u2018Good enough\u2019 is no longer good enough.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because once advice leaves your desk, it is likely to be handled in ways you cannot see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Responsibility does not disappear once you advise a client. If anything, it makes a more deliberate response necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"\n  background-color:#ffffff;\n  border-left:6px solid #d64000;\n  padding:20px 24px;\n  margin:32px 0;\n  font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\n\">\n\n  <p style=\"\n    margin:0 0 6px 0;\n    font-size:22px;\n    line-height:1.25;\n    font-weight:700;\n    color:#123015;\n  \">\n    Turn AI Risk into Practical Action:  \n    <span style=\"color:#d64000;\">On-demand Webinar<\/span>\n  <\/p>\n\n  <p style=\"\n    margin:0;\n    font-size:14px;\n    line-height:1.5;\n    color:#123015;\n  \">\n    See how trusted know-how and AI-powered workflows help legal teams move from complex questions to clear, practical outcomes, faster and with confidence.\n\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com.au\/en-au\/events\/webinar-practical-law-deep-research.html?cid=8077739&amp;chl=na&amp;sfdccampaignid=701PA00000mwQjFYAU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color:#d64000;font-weight:600;text-decoration:none;\">\n      Watch now<span style=\"font-weight:800;font-size:18px;line-height:1;\"> \u2192<\/span>\n    <\/a>\n  <\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a id=\"_msocom_1\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legal advice doesn\u2019t end when it leaves your desk, but your visibility often does. As clients increasingly turn to public AI tools to summarise and interpret complex advice, lawyers face a growing, largely uncontrollable risk: the potential loss of confidentiality and privilege. This article explores how that risk is emerging in practice, why clients are reaching for AI, and what legal professionals can do now to reduce exposure, starting with making advice clearer, more usable, and easier to trust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":12220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1964,1937,1322,602,1325,609],"tags":[1575,2052,2050,425,426,2051,460],"insight_job_role":[595,598,604,1573,1457,614],"insight_practice_area":[],"class_list":["entry","author-tyrillycsillag","has-excerpt","post-12208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-generative-ai-2","category-generative-ai","category-innovation","category-innovation-and-technology","category-legal","category-legal-technology","tag-ai","tag-law-society-nsw","tag-legal-privilege","tag-practical-law","tag-practical-law-australia","tag-privilege-risk","tag-risk","insight_job_role-general-counsel","insight_job_role-in-house-lawyer","insight_job_role-knowledge-manager","insight_job_role-lawyer","insight_job_role-managing-partner","insight_job_role-partner","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The privilege risk lawyers can\u2019t control - TR - Legal Insight Australia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Clients are already using public AI tools, often in ways that risk waiving legal privilege. Explore the emerging exposure for lawyers and how to mitigate it through clearer advice, client education, and better workflows.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com.au\/legal\/posts\/your-clients-are-using-ai-anyway-and-its-creating-a-privilege-risk-lawyers-cant-control\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The privilege risk lawyers can\u2019t control - TR - Legal Insight Australia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Clients are already using public AI tools, often in ways that risk waiving legal privilege. 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