Extract from Bobby Malhotra and Gary Lombardo’s article, “The Scaffolding: ‘Schulte v. LinkedIn’ and the Emerging Rules of the Road for Gen AI-Powered Document Review”
This ruling is significant for companies and counsel adopting AI-assisted review tools in litigation.
In January 2026, we predicted in “Guardrails Before Greenlights: How Gen AI Will Actually Shape E-Discovery in 2026” that while generative AI would not immediately replace human judgment for responsiveness reviews, courts would “begin to articulate the rules of the road” for defensible AI use in production workflows. We wrote that “we are not there yet, but we are knocking on the door.” That prediction has now been borne out. In many respects, the decision represents part of the “scaffolding” we predicted would begin to emerge as courts grapple with generative AI-powered review workflows.
On June 30, 2026, Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler of the Northern District of California issued a discovery order in Schulte v. LinkedIn, No. 22-cv-00237-HSG, 2026 WL 1905851 (N.D. Cal. July 1, 2026), that offers important early judicial guidance on the use of generative AI in document review workflows.
