Prompts, privilege & discovery
Conservation Law Foundation, Inc. v. Shell Oil Co.
A magistrate judge treated an expert team’s GPT-4o prompts as discoverable methodology, but the district judge stayed the order for review.
Order stayed01
Case background
Material facts
An expert team used GPT-4o through a private Microsoft Azure instance to help cull Shell’s discovery. Shell sought the prompts and queries as part of expert discovery.
02
The decision
The court’s ruling
The magistrate judge ordered disclosure of the prompts or a diligent-search certification, reasoning that they concerned the expert’s methodology and reliance. On June 3, the district judge stayed that order while considering an objection.
Why it matters
What the decision means
Prompts used in an expert’s analysis qualify as testable methodology under the magistrate judge’s reasoning. The district judge stayed that ruling, so no production obligation was in effect at this site’s cutoff date.
Limit of the ruling. The underlying order remained stayed and unresolved as of September 5, 2026.
Primary reading