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Legal Privilege

The legal-privilege policy is an output-phase blocker for privileged legal phrases. It scans generated output text for configured markers, or a small built-in default list, and blocks the response when a marker is found.

Configuration​

pack:
  name: legal-privilege
  version: "1.0.0"
  enabled: true

policies:
  chain:
    - legal-privilege

policy:
  legal-privilege:
    privilege_markers:
      - "attorney-client privilege"
      - "privileged and confidential"
      - "work product"
      - "for legal review only"

Fields​

FieldTypeDescriptionDefault
privilege_markersstring[]Case-insensitive markers that trigger blocking when they appear in output text. If omitted, the gateway uses the built-in defaults shown above.built-in list
actionblockThe only accepted action; a matching output is always blocked.block

How it works​

  1. Output extraction: the server extracts response text from the buffered model output.
  2. Marker scan: the gateway lowercases the text and checks whether any configured or built-in marker appears as a substring.
  3. Verdict: a match returns Verdict::Block with reason_code = "legal.privilege_detected".
  4. Audit details: the decision event records whether a hit occurred and how many markers were active.

Important limitations​

  • The current policy evaluates output text only. It does not scan inbound prompts.
  • There is no redact or escalate mode for this policy.
  • action is optional because blocking is the only supported runtime behavior.

Valid examples​

Use built-in defaults​

pack:
  name: legal-defaults
  version: "1.0.0"
  enabled: true

policies:
  chain:
    - legal-privilege

policy:
  legal-privilege: {}

Add organization-specific privilege markers​

pack:
  name: litigation-review
  version: "1.0.0"
  enabled: true

policies:
  chain:
    - legal-privilege

policy:
  legal-privilege:
    privilege_markers:
      - "attorney-client privilege"
      - "work product"
      - "for legal review only"
      - "settlement draft"
      - "outside counsel only"

Best practices​

  • Put the policy in output chains that produce legal analysis, summaries, or draft memoranda.
  • Extend privilege_markers with your jurisdictional or organization-specific labels.
  • Pair with case-privacy, upl-filter, and pii-detector for broader legal-data controls.

Next steps​