T. Cullen Stafford

In United States v. Heppner, No. 25-cr-503 (JSR), 2026 WL 436479 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 17, 2026), the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recently held that a criminal defendant’s written exchanges with a publicly available generative AI platform were not protected by either the attorney‑client privilege or the work product doctrine. This groundbreaking decision has wide-ranging implications for anyone using generative AI tools in sensitive legal contexts.

In November 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) finalized a consent order requiring an employer to cease enforcement of non-competition agreements with nearly 1,800 employees. This was the FTC’s first enforcement action related to non-competition agreements since the Trump administration decided to stop defending a Biden-era agency rule that would have banned most non-competition agreements.

In November 2025, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") finalized a consent order requiring an employer to cease enforcement of non-competition agreements with nearly 1,800 employees. This was the FTC's first enforcement action related to...