Using AI Without Waiving Privilege: Lessons from United States v. Heppner

The firms leading right now chose to ask what would become possible if they managed the entire revenue lifecycle — from invoice generation to cash receipt — in one place, and what AI could actually accomplish with complete data instead of partial feeds. That is the Power of One.

A recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), United States v. Heppner, has generated outsized commentary suggesting that the use of generative AI tools may jeopardize attorney-client privilege. A closer reading shows something far less dramatic.

The 2025 legislative cycle marked a pivotal year in U.S. privacy law, defined not only by continued nationwide expansion into AI) governance, children’s and teen privacy and online safety, as well as emerging data categories. In this article, we detail what enterprises need to be prepared for in 2026 and explain why we believe next year will be a watershed period for consumer privacy in the U.S.

Every decision to onboard a client, partner, lateral hire, contractor, consultant or expert witness carries risk. Yet despite the increasing complexity of that risk, many firms continue to rely on onboarding practices that have not kept pace with the digital world in which their clients and people operate. The result is a widening gap between how risk actually manifests today and how it is assessed at the point of onboarding.