AI and Legal Ethics: Protecting Client Privacy in a Changing Legal System, with Sunny Eaton

About this episode

The episode discusses the intersection of AI, legal ethics, and client privacy, emphasizing the importance of protecting privacy in a changing legal landscape.

Wrongful convictions and AI privacy may seem like separate issues, but both raise the same uncomfortable question: what happens when the legal system relies on old assumptions in a changing world? In episode 618 of the Lawyerist Podcast, Zack Glaser talks with Sunny Eaton about conviction review work, evolving science, and why lawyers should not be so quick to surrender privacy expectations in the age of AI. Sunny shares how her work in the Nashville District Attorney’s Office focuses on reviewing old convictions, identifying new evidence, and helping correct cases where the system may have gotten it wrong. She explains why changing science, including advances in DNA, trauma research, and bias studies, can matter deeply when reviewing criminal convictions. The conversation then turns to AI, attorney client privilege, client data, and the growing role of data brokers. Zack and Sunny explore whether information shared with AI tools should automatically lose privacy protection, and why lawyers may need to make stronger arguments before courts accept that assumption. If you are concerned about AI in law firms, client confidentiality, or the future of privacy rights, this episode…

People in this episode

Host: Zack Glaser

Guest: Sunny Eaton

Topics covered

• AI
• legal ethics
• client privacy
• wrongful convictions
• data protection
• criminal justice

Keywords

• AI
• legal ethics
• client privacy
• wrongful convictions
• data brokers
• attorney client privilege
• DNA
• trauma research
• bias studies

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nashville District Attorney’s Office

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