PART TWO

A Call to New Lawyers: Change the System from Within

To the next generation of lawyers,

The legal system today is a product of old power structures—entrenched systems designed to maintain control, protect elite interests, and often silence the marginalized. As technology advances, the divide between the “little people” and those with power has only widened. Surveillance, algorithmic bias, corporate monopolies, and unchecked administrative systems are becoming modern tools of oppression. But these same systems are also opportunities for you to create meaningful change.

The tools to reimagine justice are in your hands. Here’s how you can take the fight inside the system and help reshape it from within:

1. Demand Transparency and Accountability in Automated Systems

Technology is now central to everything—from criminal sentencing to welfare decisions—but automated systems are rife with bias. Predictive policing tools target marginalized communities, and AI-driven risk assessments perpetuate inequity.

What You Can Do:

• Use your legal knowledge to challenge opaque algorithms in court. Demand that governments disclose how these systems work and push for “explainable AI.”
• Work on legislation that makes algorithmic audits mandatory in public services. Advocate for human oversight over automated decisions that affect people’s lives.

Impact: Automation must not replace justice. Your actions will ensure that technology serves people, not power.

2. Rein in Corporate Power Through Antitrust Law and Platform Accountability

Corporate giants dominate the digital space, collecting personal data and squeezing out smaller voices. Section 230 shields platforms from accountability, enabling them to silence marginalized groups or misuse content moderation policies.

What You Can Do:

• Apply Lina Khan’s antitrust principles to challenge monopolies that exploit consumer data or stifle competition.
• Advocate for responsible reform of Section 230 to ensure that platforms are held accountable without suppressing free expression.
• Push for the development of decentralized, public-interest technology that empowers communities to control their own digital spaces.

Impact: By holding platforms accountable and curbing monopolistic control, you will restore balance between corporate power and individual expression.

3. Protect Privacy and Stand Against Surveillance

Surveillance is no longer just a security tool; it is a means to control and criminalize the poor and marginalized. From school surveillance programs to state-sponsored monitoring, freedom is eroded in the name of safety.

What You Can Do:

• Challenge unconstitutional surveillance practices by invoking the Fourth Amendment and recent privacy precedents.
• Advocate for state-level data privacy laws that limit corporate and government overreach.
• Collaborate with civil rights organizations to educate communities on their privacy rights and fight data exploitation.

Impact: By dismantling surveillance systems, you will ensure that freedom of expression is protected, not punished.

4. Empower Communities Through Legal Education and Grassroots Action

Legal knowledge is often kept in the hands of the elite, while the marginalized are left defenseless. Decentralizing legal power is essential to creating systems that serve everyone.

What You Can Do:

• Develop community legal clinics that educate individuals about their digital rights and how to challenge algorithmic bias or surveillance.
• Work with grassroots organizations to draft model privacy laws and algorithmic accountability policies that reflect the interests of the people, not corporations.
• Use your platform to uplift activist voices and help marginalized communities hold governments accountable for their promises.

Impact: When people understand their rights and how to protect them, they can resist Big Brother systems and reclaim their agency.

5. Reshape Justice by Fixing the System from the Inside

The legal system is often slow to respond to change. But new lawyers have the power to reshape it from within. The system may be built to protect elite interests, but your voice, your action, and your persistence can shift the balance.

What You Can Do:

• Advocate for AI Bills of Rights that center human dignity and ethical use of technology in government services.
• Challenge bureaucratic systems that criminalize poverty with legal action and push for policies that eliminate “poverty traps.”
• Join public-interest litigation efforts that tackle systemic injustices, amplifying the voices of those affected by unfair policies and algorithms.

Impact: True justice is not just about following the law—it’s about changing the system to serve all people fairly.

The Time to Act Is Now

As a new lawyer, you have the opportunity—and the obligation—to take on this challenge. Justice should not be reserved for the privileged, nor freedom of expression limited to those with power. Technology can be a force for liberation, but only if we hold the right people accountable. Your role is to ensure the law evolves to empower the many, not just the few.

This fight is not easy. But the law has always been a tool of resistance. It is a way to challenge the status quo and ensure that those most vulnerable to injustice have a chance to speak and be heard.

If not you, then who? If not now, then when?