09/23/2026
A paralegal pastes a client email into ChatGPT to draft a response faster.
Seems harmless. It probably is.
But the moment that email contained a client name, a case number, or any detail covered by attorney-client privilege, your firm just put privileged information into a system that:
• Logs the conversation on OpenAI's servers
• May use it to train future models (even with opt-out, the log exists)
• Sits outside your control, your audit trail, and your malpractice insurance coverage
One ethics complaint, one opposing counsel discovery request, one state bar audit — and "we didn't know" is not a defense.
The fix isn't banning AI. That ship has sailed. Your team is already using it.
The fix is giving them a version that runs in your office, on hardware you own, with an audit trail you control and zero data leaving the building.
When the bar investigator asks "where did this client information go?" the answer is: nowhere. It never left our server.
That's the difference between a productivity tool and a malpractice risk.
**Own Your AI.**