When AI Waives Privilege: Attorney-Client Confidentiality and Work Product After the 2026 Federal Decisions

Meghan A. Podolny, Partner | Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP

Meghan A. Podolny is a Partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP in the firm’s Richmond office, where her practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, information governance and eDiscovery issues, and internal investigations. She leads the firm’s Information Governance & eDiscovery Group, providing state-of-the-art data management and eDiscovery advice and services to a wide variety of corporate clients, including the development of enterprise-level best practices and tailored protocols to streamline discovery preparation and response. Meghan frequently serves as eDiscovery counsel to advise and lead massive discovery response plans, often in response to internal investigations, governmental subpoenas, or other requests.

• Education & Credentials

Meghan earned her J.D. from The College of William & Mary in 2007, where she served as Articles Editor of the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, and her B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame in 2004. She is admitted to the Bars of the District of Columbia and Virginia.

• Recognition & Leadership

Meghan currently serves as Vice Chair to the Steering Committee of Working Group 1 of the Sedona Conference. She was recognized as a Runner Up for Litigator of the Week by American Lawyer Litigation Daily (April 2022).

• Professional Involvement

Meghan is a frequent speaker and writer on a number of issues related to electronic discovery, data preservation, privilege waiver, and employee communication privacy concerns. She regularly leads presentations advising clients and lawyers alike on preservation obligations and strategies, predictive coding, and cross-border discovery issues. She is a member of Women in eDiscovery and the DC Bar Committee on eDiscovery, and co-authored The Sedona Conference Commentary on Privilege Logs (May 2024).

• Experience

Meghan’s practice spans complex commercial litigation, information governance, and eDiscovery. Her experience includes developing enterprise-level information governance best practices, tailoring protocols to streamline discovery preparation and response, and leading massive discovery response plans in response to internal investigations, governmental subpoenas, and other regulatory requests.

Michael Simon, Owner | Law Plus Data LLC

Michael Simon is an Attorney and Owner of Law Plus Data, LLC, a boutique domestic and international law firm focused on Privacy, AI, and Electronic Discovery issues, where he leverages his unique skill set with technology and his experience managing data scientists to solve client problems with data. He is also the Chief of Strategy for Bells Up AI, a confidential and affordable AI platform for lawyers. Michael has spent years sitting between the legal world and technology — co-founding one of the first legal research dot-com start-ups, building groundbreaking innovations for one of the biggest law firms in the world, and serving as Technology Counsel for one of the first eDiscovery companies — and has proven time and time again that he can serve as the translator between lawyers and technologists.

• Education & Credentials

Michael is a graduate of the Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, where he served as editor of the law journal, and Tufts University, where he graduated with honors. He is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM).

• Recognition & Leadership

Michael is Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Business Law Section subcommittee on Consumer Privacy and Data Analytics. He is a Fellow at ForHumanity, an international public interest group that provides audit criteria and governance frameworks to assure the safe use of AI, and serves on the Board of Directors of the International Digital Workers Initiative.

• Professional Involvement

Michael has been an Adjunct Professor at Michigan State University College of Law and Boston University School of Law. He has made over 100 presentations as a speaker, panelist, and moderator, and written dozens of articles on AI ethics and governance, eDiscovery, Privacy, and legal technology. He also serves as President of the Board of Directors of Greyhound Friends of Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

• Experience

Michael is also the Principal of Seventh Samurai, LLC, a legal technology consulting firm, and serves as an expert on complex eDiscovery data issues for law firms, corporations, and government. His career has included co-founding one of the first legal research dot-com start-ups, building groundbreaking innovations for one of the largest law firms in the world, and serving as Technology Counsel for one of the first eDiscovery companies.

Adam Gajadharsingh, Discovery Counsel | Google

Adam Gajadharsingh is Discovery Counsel at Google in Atlanta, where his practice focuses on all aspects of the litigation and government investigation discovery process, both in the United States and globally, including developing case discovery strategies, negotiating ESI protocols and protective orders, overseeing document collection, review, and production, addressing complex privilege issues, and developing eDiscovery best practices. Prior to joining Google, Adam was a Partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP, where his practice focused on complex commercial litigation, eDiscovery, data privacy/security, and information management, and he was a member of the team assisting the Special Compliance Coordinator appointed by the U.S. Department of Commerce to monitor U.S. export control compliance of Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation.

• Education & Credentials

Adam earned his J.D. from Emory University School of Law and his B.A. from Tulane University.

• Recognition & Leadership

Adam is Co-Team Leader of the Sedona Conference Working Group 1 Drafting Team for a Commentary on Reducing the Burdens of the Privilege Logging Process. He is also a member of Sedona’s Drafting Team for a Commentary on Conducting eDiscovery of Modern Communication and Collaboration Platforms.

• Professional Involvement

Adam has been a faculty member of Sedona’s eDiscovery Negotiation Training program and regularly speaks about privilege issues. Over his career, he has trained hundreds of attorneys regarding privilege law and reviewed the validity of tens of thousands of privilege coding determinations.

• Experience

Adam has handled all aspects of complex discovery, including taking and defending numerous depositions, arguing substantive motions in court, and winning a breach of contract jury trial as first chair. Before Barnes & Thornburg, he served as Senior Staff Attorney in the eMerge eDiscovery division at Troutman Sanders, where he served as the group’s expert on attorney-client privilege issues.

SESSION 1 – Helping Lawyers Choose the Right AI Platform | 1:00pm – 1:30pm

Examine how the choice between consumer-grade and enterprise AI platforms can affect attorney-client privilege and work product protection, including platform-specific terms of service, data-retention practices, model-training provisions, and contractual confidentiality commitments across OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft Copilot.

SESSION 2 – Building an AI Governance Playbook | 1:30pm – 2:00pm

Translate the 2026 federal decisions into concrete risk-management protocols, including documenting counsel direction, structuring tiered AI governance frameworks, vendor diligence, consumer-grade tool prohibition, and deploying Federal Rule of Evidence 502(d) orders and ESI protocols for AI-assisted workflows.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 3 – Heppner, Warner, and Morgan: Privilege and Work Product Claims | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

Examine United States v. Heppner, Warner v. Gilbarco, and Morgan v. V2X — the first federal decisions addressing privilege and work product protection for AI-generated documents — including the three-pillar Heppner holding, the “tools, not persons” framework, and emerging waiver standards.