Protect privileged information before it reaches the AI
Sending client material to an AI provider may waive privilege. Locke flags what looks privileged and masks or blocks it on your device, before it's sent.
What Locke detects
Case numbers and docket identifiers
Patterns consistent with federal and state case-number formats, near litigation keywords.
Contextual pattern matchingClient names and matter identifiers
Named entity recognition finds people, organizations and places. Matter numbers are caught by their proximity to legal keywords.
NER + contextual matchingWitness and party identifiers
Names and identifying details near words like deposition, testimony, witness or party.
Contextual pattern matchingPrivileged communication markers
Patterns associated with attorney-client communications: privilege headers, confidentiality notices, work-product references.
Contextual pattern matchingSSNs and EINs
Social Security and Employer Identification Numbers, verified by checksum and digit format.
Structural validationFinancial account data
Luhn-validated card numbers, plus bank account and routing numbers near financial keywords.
Structural + contextual matchingPatent and trademark registration numbers, which are public record, are excluded from privilege signals. Only litigation, case-management and witness data trigger privilege relevance.
Frameworks that may apply to flagged data
Locke reports pattern matches, not compliance status. These frameworks may be relevant when detected data is sent unprotected.
Attorney-Client Privilege
Locke flags a potential privilege relevance signal when litigation, case-management or witness identifiers are sent unprotected to an AI tool. Voluntary submission of privileged material to a generative AI service may constitute waiver. At least one federal court has now addressed the question directly.
CCPA
Locke flags a CCPA relevance signal when personal or government-issued identifiers (SSNs, names, addresses) are sent to a third-party AI tool.
Signal requirements: A relevance signal requires (1) flagged data in a specific category, (2) sent unprotected, (3) to a destination matching a relevant classification. Blocked or remediated transmissions don't trigger one.
Locke does not determine whether privilege has been waived, whether a regulation has been violated, or whether data is protected under applicable law. It identifies pattern matches. Legal analysis requires counsel.
Four steps, all on your device
Detect
Locke scans for case numbers, client names, witness identifiers and privilege markers on your device. Nothing is sent during detection.
Alert
Red marks a high-confidence structural match. Yellow marks a contextual match to review.
Block or mask
Flagged data in an outbound request (a chatbot prompt, a form, an API call) can be masked before it's sent, or the request blocked.
Report
Events are logged on your device. Export PDF reports for the client file, compliance records or your malpractice insurer.
Client content never reaches Sonomos
Attorney-client privilege can be waived by voluntary disclosure to a third party. A privacy tool that sends client data to its own servers becomes one more. Locke processes content on your device, and detection data never leaves it. Sonomos holds only your account, licence status and settings: no client data, no flagged content, no new disclosure.
Use AI on the matter. Keep the client's secrets on your device.
Get Locke for your practiceOr try the interactive demo first.
Reading for legal
- AI and the Work Product Doctrine: Privilege Risks When Lawyers Use ChatGPT and Claude
- Can Lawyers Use ChatGPT? Confidentiality, Privilege, and AI in 2026
- AI Tools for Legal Research in 2026: Harvey, Westlaw AI, Lexis+ AI, and Why Citation Hallucination Still Matters
- Is Claude Confidential? What Anthropic Can See, Store, and Train On (2026)