Attorney Bayan Jaber in State Bar of Michigan’s Labor and Employment Lawnotes: “When Clients Use AI: Discovery, Privilege, and Guardrails”

In the Summer 2026 issue of Labor and Employment Lawnotes, published by the State Bar of Michigan's Labor and Employment Law Section, Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers attorney Bayan Jaber tackles a fast-emerging issue in litigation: what happens when clients turn to consumer AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini while their case is pending. 

Bayan explains that clients often use these tools with good intentions, hoping to save their lawyer time. But in practice this can backfire with clients accidentally creating discoverable material, sharing confidential facts with third-party AI tools, and drafting material that may be inaccurate or in need of edits from the attorney. 

The piece walks through two recent, conflicting district court decisions on whether a client's AI conversations are protected by privilege or attorney work product. Bayan also offers practical guardrails for both plaintiff-side and criminal defense firms, including clear AI-use policies at intake, retainer-agreement acknowledgments, and counsel-approved tools for any AI use that is helpful. 

"AI is now part of ordinary client behavior," Bayan writes. "That does not mean lawyers should ignore it or pretend clients are not using it. It means lawyers need a policy." 

Read the full article here: https://higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/MICHBAR/186c8f91-1162-4d30-9e4a-e10a92bbb606/UploadedImages/pdfs/newsletter/Summer2026.pdf