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Privacy is not just about keeping secrets. It is about protecting your power. In episode 629 of the Lawyerist Podcast, Zack Glaser talks with Oxford professor and author Carissa Véliz about how personal data gives companies, governments, and technology platforms the ability to influence our choices and shape our lives.

Carissa explains why seemingly harmless information, from the music you enjoy to the way your phone battery drains, can be used to identify, categorize, and predict you. They explore how AI has made surveillance cheaper and more powerful, why predictions should never be treated as facts, and how automated scores can affect important decisions without giving people a meaningful way to challenge them.

The conversation also offers practical ways to reclaim control without abandoning technology entirely. From choosing more private digital tools to questioning the predictions presented as inevitable, Carissa shows why every decision to protect your privacy matters.

If you have ever clicked “accept” without thinking about what happens next, this episode will change the way you think about your data, your autonomy, and who gets to shape your future.

Listen to our previous episodes on AI, Privacy & Legal Ethics.

#618: AI and Legal Ethics: Protecting Client Privacy in a Changing Legal System, with Sunny Eaton Apple | Spotify | LTN

#612: AI for Lawyers: What You Need to Know Before Your Clients Do, with Cat Casey Apple | Spotify | LTN

#582: Deepfakes, Data, and Duty: Navigating AI Ethics in Law, with Merisa Bowers Apple | Spotify | LTN

#543: What Lawyers Need to Know About the Ethics of Using AI, with Hilary Gerzhoy Apple | Spotify | LTN

#486: How to Safely Include AI in Your Legal Tech Stack, with Will Anoh Apple | Spotify | LTN

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Chapters / Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction

00:55 – The Future of Law Firm Leadership

05:00 – The Four Cornerstones of Leadership

09:00 – Be a Next Level Leader

10:45 – Meet Carissa Véliz

11:45 – Why Privacy Is Power

13:30 – How Personal Data Limits Your Autonomy

15:50 – Who Decides What Your Data Says About You?

17:50 – How Companies Exploit Personal Vulnerabilities

20:10 – The Data You Never Realized Was Personal

21:15 – The Connection Between Surveillance and Prediction

22:30 – Applying Fiduciary Duties to Personal Data

24:15 – Why You Cannot Contest a Prediction

26:20 – Banning the Sale of Personal Data

28:25 – Predictions Are Power Plays, Not Facts

30:30 – AI and the Expansion of Digital Surveillance

33:25 – How to Take Back Your Digital Privacy

37:30 – Why Every Privacy Choice Matters

40:00 – The Future Is Not Predetermined

41:25 – The Most Private Way to Read a Book

The hosts unpack what ego really means in the legal profession and why female attorneys especially need a healthy dose of it. They trace the word's negative connotations alongside its necessary flip side: the confidence to stand in front of a jury and believe what you're arguing whether that's a damages number or a case strategy. Stories range from convincing a jury of a dollar amount you have to actually believe, to colleagues questioning why you're on a case, to the TikTok-fueled discourse about young female attorneys feeling embarrassed to even say "I'm a lawyer" out loud. The throughline: ego isn't about arrogance, it's competence-backed confidence and it's something you build over time.

Subscribe to Heels in the Courtroom: https://play.megaphone.fm/lpqcuasdqrkvtile7bx6ng

This election season is bringing a major hike in ad rates. What’s a lawyer to do? Later, service and gifts give every member of your law firm the opportunity to level up client experiences.

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Massive political ad spends are pushing expenses higher than ever in the lead-up to November 6, impacting your branded advertising economics both online and off. Do you need to make changes to your firm’s marketing campaigns? Should you take a break from branded advertising or push through? Conrad and Gyi debate tactical options to help you make informed decisions with your advertising budget.

And, if you do decide to cut back on digital media buys, where are those extra marketing dollars going to go? A gift budget is an excellent way to help your team members get involved in marketing. The guys explain how gifting promotes a more thoughtful mindset, helping your team connect more deeply with clients and creating opportunities to build affinity for your law firm.



The News:

Depending on where you’re located—Elections advertising spend for 2026 expected to reach record high, outpacing presidential years.

Local positioning in action, folks: Michigan roofer bets on community over private equity.

Imaging running a carefully worded ad just to have an AI summary screw it all up. Thanks, Google…bleh. – Google tests AI-generated summaries in Search ads And, here’s a real life example from Darcy Burk.

Shout out to Michigan Auto Law for this cool campaign: Get Up To $3,000 Free.

How do we teach young lawyers to function in an AI world without relying on AI in the learning process? – UChicago Law Unveils New AI Strategy



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In This Episode

00:00 Intro & The Trophy Story

03:05 News: Election Ad Spend Record Highs

03:40 News: Local Positioning Lessons from a Roofer

05:35 News: Google Testing AI Summaries in Ads

06:19 News: Michigan Auto Law Campaign Shout-out

07:13 News: UChicago Law’s New AI Strategy

09:43 Should Lawyers Pause Ads During Mid-terms?

11:15 Strategy: Location-Specific Ad Planning

13:16 The Debate: Branding Consistency vs. Ad Spend

15:52 Direct Response vs. Brand Awareness

23:18 Employee Gifting Programs for Law Firms

27:10 Logistics: Using Gifting Platforms

28:32 The Power of Personalized Client Gifts

31:40 Incentivizing Employee Engagement

34:10 Operationalizing Marketing Efforts

38:34 Aligning Firm Growth with Staff Goals

In January 1800, Elma Sands's dead body was found in a New York City well. The case has captivated people ever since, not least because in the resulting trial, defendant Levi Weeks was represented by Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and a future Supreme Court justice.

The Girl from Greenwich Street: A Novel of Hamilton, Burr and America's First Murder Trial is a historical fiction novel by Lauren Willig. On this episode of the Modern Law Library, she explains how four years before their fatal duel, Hamilton and Burr came to be co-counsels on a murder case.

"The New York Bar was perishingly small in 1800. And in fact, Burr and Hamilton were co-counsel on a complex commercial litigation at the exact time," says Willig. "So people were constantly–it's like swing your partners, do-si-do. They were always working together, working against each other. It was just the way the bar worked in 1800."

The defendant, Levi Weeks, lived in the same boarding house as Sands, a hatmaker whose cousin owned the house. The prosecution contended that Weeks had seduced Sands with a promise of marriage, then dumped her body in the Manhattan Well. His trial was the first murder trial in America to have a court transcript, thanks to a clerk who'd recently learned shorthand. This transcript gave Willig a wealth of witness testimony to draw on when fleshing out her characters.

"One of the things that drove me nuts when I was researching this case was how little attention has been expended over the years in trying to figure out anything about Elma Sands, the murdered woman," Willig tells Rawles. "There are some big personalities and really big names involved in the trial itself. And people are so eager to get into the courtroom with Hamilton and Burr that they just trample over Elma. And she gets flattened into one of two archetypes. Either she's the innocent young maiden who's been seduced and betrayed, which is how the prosecution portrays her in the trial, or she's a melancholy laudanum-addicted nymphomaniac, which is how the defense tries to portray her."

"And I think the reality of Elma was a lot more complicated than those flat depictions would have us believe."

Willig and Rawles also discuss her time at Harvard Law, where she signed a contract to write her popular Pink Carnation series as a 1L, and then her time at Cravath, Swain & Moore, trying to balance being a published romance writer and lawyer.

"I had to make a choice, try to continue to juggle or go all in on being an author. And I left Cravath and my partner mentor came up to me and said, 'Well, what took you so long? I would've left sooner.' "

Subscribe to Modern Law Library: https://play.megaphone.fm/93wtgxnatpsubsdxwklzwq

Social media is everywhere today. Ever wonder how the role social media plays into the employer/employee relationship? In this episode, guests Aaron Holt and SaNni M-K Lemonidis, both experienced labor and employment attorneys, join host Matt Greer for a deep dive into the murky waters of who said what where and to whom.

Can employers regulate what an employee says on a social media channel – say Facebook or X? It depends. The “manner and method” of our free speech outside of work still matters. It’s about content and context.

Harassment and discrimination matter still matter. Try the “water cooler principle,” if a comment was made on social media, ask if the same comment was made at work around the water cooler, would the boss feel obligated to act. If the answer is yes, then action is likely required.

This is a fascinating field, nuanced and sometimes dependent on the size of a company and capacity for control as well, as the company’s own use of social media in outreach and marketing.

The laws, and EEOC guidance, haven’t changed. But the environment we live and work in has. Basic principles still apply. For employees, be nice to each other. For employers, do your best to ensure no one is being harassed or bullied. If someone says there’s a problem, employers can protect themselves by investigating complaints and developing and adhering to consistent policies.

REFERENCES MENTIONED:

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

NLRB v. Pier Sixty, Justia Law

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Okonowsky v. Garland, Justia Law

Connick v. Myers, Justia Law

The ABA Labor and Employment Law Section 2026 Annual Conference is scheduled for Nov. 4-7, 2026 in Washington, DC

ABA Labor and Employment Law Section

Subscribe to ABA Labor and Employment Law Podcast: https://play.megaphone.fm/jzfpgfsst3wnyevnhvs9cq