Redacting exhibits
For a file you have to disclose: real black bars. The hidden text is removed from the PDF, not painted over.
For lawyers
Prepare case documents before using AI. Preserve the context, replace identities, and review your export.
On your device · macOS, Windows & Linux
Excerpt · fictional example
In this dispute, Claire Fontaine is seeking the return of a tenancy deposit. The lease has ended and the keys have been returned.
One name illustrated. Always review the full export.
In practice
Give your AI useful context with pseudonyms in place of names.
Review facts and details that could still identify your client.
Pleadings, a contract, a letter. PDF, DOCX, Excel, email, TXT, Markdown, CSV or image. The document never leaves your machine.
Every day
For a file you have to disclose: real black bars. The hidden text is removed from the PDF, not painted over.
Every anonymization done in the app is recorded in a local log: date, categories, counts, SHA-256 fingerprints, never the values. Filterable, exportable to CSV or JSON. The record to keep on file.
Your clients, your internal references: added once, hidden everywhere, whatever the model.
Reference points
Sources: CNB guidance (March 2026) · CNIL recommendations (July 2025) · Lefebvre Dalloz / CSA survey (2026).
The French Bar Council's guidance on professional conduct and AI is unambiguous. No data covered by professional secrecy goes into a generative AI. Pseudonymize it first, every time.
Questions
No. Your files still leave the firm and pass through third-party servers. The Bar's recommendation is about the sending itself: pseudonymize first. A contract clause is no substitute for the method.
Open it. Review the detections. Choose your export.