AUGUST 2026 | 61 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL This question matters for several reasons. First, it helps the lawyer understand what the client may already believe about the legal problem. A client may arrive with confidence based on an AI-generated explanation that is incomplete, jurisdictionally wrong or simply invented. The lawyer needs to know whether the client’s expectations have been shaped by an AI tool before meaningful legal advice can begin. Second, the question helps identify confidentiality concerns. A client may have pasted a demand letter, settlement communication, contract, financial record, medical record or family-law fact into a public AI tool. The client may not appreciate that, “I was just asking a question” can involve transmitting sensitive information outside the attorney-client relationship. Lawyers cannot address that risk if they do not know it happened. Third, the question helps identify possible privilege and work-product issues. A client who uploads attorney emails, draft pleadings, strategy notes or summaries of lawyer conversations into an AI tool may create waiver arguments or discovery disputes later. Even when privilege is not waived, the existence of the AI interaction may, itself, require analysis. For many firms, the simplest fix is to add AI questions to the intake checklist. This is especially important in matters where the client may be tempted to ask an AI tool for immediate legal guidance before or during the representation. GIVE CLIENTS CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS Asking about prior AI use is only the first step. Lawyers should also give clients clear instructions about future AI use during the representation. Many clients do not distinguish between a public chatbot, a legal research tool, a private enterprise system, a document automation product and an AI feature embedded in software they already use. To the client, all of these may simply be “AI.” Because the technology is confusing, client instructions should be direct and practical. A lawyer might tell a client: Please do not put information about your case into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity or any other AI tool unless you talk with us first. This includes PixieMe - stock.adobe.com
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