From IP to AI: How the Schulich School of Law Trains Tech-Ready Lawyers
Technology keeps changing the facts on the ground. Law doesn't get a pass-it has to respond, without losing its core principles. The Schulich School of Law has built a program that meets that reality head-on, preparing graduates to analyze, advise, and act with confidence where law and technology meet.
This story originally appeared in the 2025 edition of Hearsay, the Schulich School of Law's annual alumni magazine.
The Law & Technology Institute
Founded in the early 2000s by Professor Emeritus Michael Deturbide, KC, and Dr. Teresa Scassa, the Law & Technology Institute (LATI) promotes legal research, education, and leadership in technology law and policy from a Canadian perspective. For over two decades, LATI has informed public debate, supported policy development, and fostered interdisciplinary work across the university and beyond.
Associate Director Professor Lucie Guibault, a copyright and IP scholar, points to the speed of change and the breadth of issues LATI tackles: online harms, AI-generated works and inventions, the Right to Repair, and the role of AI in democratic processes. The Institute has grown its expertise with new faculty and expanded research agendas.
LATI also houses The Canadian Journal of Law and Technology (CJLT), co-edited by Guibault and Professor Maria Dugas. A new Law and Technology Legal Writing & Editorial Assistantship Course will soon allow students to contribute directly to the Journal.
Longstanding LATI members Professor Robert Currie, KC, and David Fraser serve as English editors for the Canadian Technology Law Association's newsletter-part of a national forum where practitioners discuss e-commerce, IP, and more. Learn more about the association at CAN-TECH.
Respecting and Protecting Indigenous IP
Knowledge drives innovation and social change. Yet Indigenous knowledge has often been left unprotected and open to appropriation. With support from the Dalhousie 2025 Next Wave Fund, LATI is organizing a workshop focused on the protection of Indigenous intellectual property and the revitalization of Indigenous IP laws-work aligned with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action. The goal is practical progress: articulation, recognition, and rebuilding.
Faculty, Courses, and Hands-On Experience
Acting LATI Director Assistant Professor Suzie Dunn researches equality, technology, and the law, and contributes to a SSHRC-funded project on young people's experiences with sexual violence online (DIY Digital Safety). She notes a clear trend: more talent, new courses, stronger student outcomes.
Associate Professor Michael Karanicolas, the James S. Palmer Chair in Public Policy and Law, joined in January and launched the Information Policy Lab. His focus is direct: how to govern emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing while grounding decisions in human rights standards. These questions now sit inside core public policy debates and everyday legal practice.
Schulich Law also offers a Law and Technology Certificate (introduced in 2019 by Guibault). Students mix IP and law-and-tech courses with practical work through the initio Technology & Innovation Law Clinic. More than 65 students have earned the certificate, and the curriculum keeps growing.
Assistant Professor Anthony Rosborough teaches Technological Competence and Innovation in Lawyering-a course on the skills every modern practitioner needs. His joint appointment with Computer Science adds welcome depth. Two Lisson Experts-in-Residence, Jon Legorburu and Carla Swansburg, ran intensives on cyber-crime, internet manipulation, and technology in practice. As Swansburg put it, the aim is simple: use emerging tools to improve outcomes, ethically and efficiently.
Clinics That Move Students Into Practice
The initio Technology & Innovation Law Clinic, led by Director Alayna Kolodziechuk, provides legal services to early-stage start-ups and community organizations that couldn't otherwise afford counsel. The mission is dual: support the Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurial ecosystem while giving students meaningful client work.
That model works. After a semester at the Clinic, LÊo Bourgeois (JD '24) articled there and became its first junior staff lawyer. He also served on the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society technology sub-group and contributed to their AI guidance for legal practices. His advice to the profession: approach AI with curiosity and caution-stay informed, ask critical questions, and adapt your workflows.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration That Sticks
Tech Toks, a multi-disciplinary speaker series launched by Dunn, draws faculty and community into frank discussions on topics such as women's career paths in IP, regulating online pornography, and pharmaceuticals and the law.
Rosborough's recent session-"Think Globally, Repair Locally"-highlighted the Right to Repair and his "Unlocking Healthcare" project on the technical and legal barriers to servicing software-dependent medical devices in Canadian hospitals. His thesis: restore human agency, diffuse technical knowledge, increase competition, reduce waste, and lower costs across sectors.
LATI also supported WeRobot 2025, the leading conference on AI and robotics regulation, with Dunn on the planning committee and a "Law 101" workshop for attendees. CJLT is partnering on a special edition featuring conference papers.
Next up: the inaugural Canadian Technology Law Conference-Democracy and the Information Society-led by Karanicolas, with a keynote by the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. Karanicolas frames the central question clearly: how do democracies withstand the information shocks created by new technologies? He is also convening the Canadian Law and Technology Network, connecting more than 80 legal scholars nationwide.
What This Means for Your Practice
- Build technological competence into core legal skills-document automation, data literacy, and AI-assisted workflows.
- Track regulatory movement on AI, online harms, and quantum computing; translate that into client-ready advice.
- Understand IP for AI-generated content and inventions; review ownership, licensing, and infringement risk with clear frameworks.
- Support the Right to Repair where it aligns with client interests-consumer protection, competition, and sustainability angles matter.
- Invest in privacy, cybersecurity, and incident response capabilities. Cyber-crime and manipulation tactics are growing more sophisticated.
- Engage across disciplines early-policy labs, clinics, and networks can surface risks and opportunities before they hit courtrooms or boardrooms.
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Bottom Line
Lawyers who thrive here combine legal fundamentals with technical fluency and policy awareness. The Schulich School of Law's LATI ecosystem-courses, clinics, scholarship, and networks-shows how to build that mix with intention and impact.
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