Our Mission

The Law and Technology Institute (LATI), based at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law, aims to promote legal research, education, and leadership in technology law and policy, particularly from a Canadian perspective. In that mission, we seek to enhance public awareness and understanding of the legal, policy, and ethical challenges posed by existing and emerging technologies; inform and guide Canadian public policy; and encourage inter-disciplinary problem-solving, teaching, and research.

Leadership and Impact

Founded in the early 2000s when the Internet was still emerging as a transformative force in society, LATI seeks to lead and impact technology law and policy in a variety of ways.

We pursue research, teaching, and organize law school and community events relating to law and technology.  We also publish Canada’s leading technology law journal—the Canadian Journal of Law and Technology (CJLT). According to the Washington & Lee Law Journal Ranking Report, the CJLT consistently ranks among the most cited, current, and impactful technology law journals internationally. And in addition to offering a range of technology related law courses for students, we also co-founded Dalhousie’s interdisciplinary Master of Electronic Commerce Program, which will soon be re-launched as the new, innovative, and cross-disciplinary Masters in Digital Innovation (MDI) Program. The MDI will be offered jointly with Dalhousie’s Computer Science, Business, and Management Faculties.

Research and Key Themes

LATI pursues original and innovative research on a range of legal, policy, and ethical issues concerning established and emerging technologies. Our research falls under four key themes: 

Technology and Human Rights | Technology can protect and promote human rights but can also pose complex challenges to those same interests. Our research, which often employs interdisciplinary approaches, analyzes the impact and implications technology has for human rights in a variety of contexts.  Among the issues we interrogate in this theme: privacy, surveillance, cyberbullying, online censorship, Big Data, and the Internet of Things.

Technology and Security | The deployment of digital media and other technologies, and government and law enforcement responses to them, has significantly impacted crime and security. Our work in this theme focuses, in particular, on technological aspects of crime as well as complex cross-border issues, such as warrantless searches of digital media during border crossing. Under this theme, we tackle issues like cyber-crime, cyber-security, and cross-border issues.

Commerce, Innovation, and Intellectual Property | Technology continues to challenge consumer rights, intellectual property, and innovation policy. And emerging forms of commerce, based on new financial technologies—like the crypto-currency Bitcoin—are revolutionizing business. Our research explores the law, policy, and ethical dimensions of these changes, including e-commerce, consumer protection online, crypto-currencies, IP and innovation, and smart cities.

Emerging Technologies | Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and the “internet of things”, are playing an increasingly central role in day to day life and major societal sectors. Our research seeks to understand and analyze these impacts while pioneering new legal, policy, and ethical frameworks to govern and guide their development and deployments. Under this theme, we tackle law, policy, and ethical issues raised by these emerging technologies as well as the deployment of new legal technologies in the legal system.

Our work is often interdisciplinary and collaborative and seeks to inform, engage, and assist courts, policy-makers, industry, civil society, regulatory and professional bodies, and the broader research and education community. 

Specialize in Law & Technology

We offer one of the strongest Law and Technology programs in the country. With ubiquitous computing and online connectivity, advances in biotechnology, big data storage and search, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain, questions of law, technology, policy, ethics, and society are of increasing importance and public concern. Our program is designed to prepare law students for technologies of today and tomorrow, with a variety of courses engaging with and thinking critically about issues and problems at the intersections of law, technology, and society.

The Program is anchored by the Law and Technology Institute—founded to promote scholarly legal research and advance knowledge in technology law. LATI was among the first such research centers in the country; our flagship publication the Canadian Journal of Law and Technology. The CJLT is Canada’s leading technology law journal, with significant impact, currency, and citation scores ranking it 8th over all among Canadian law journals, and 3rd overall internationally among all science and technology law journals outside the United States.

JD Requirements

JD students are able to earn a certificate in Law and Technology. The specialization will be recognized on their transcript. More information is available on the LATI website.