STRICTLY LEGAL
Hot topic legal chats with thought leaders & industry experts from the Osgoode community
Strictly Legal, an Osgoode Professional Development podcast, is about all things legal. Each episode, we unpack
current issues affecting the legal landscape with the help of some of the industry's leading thinkers.
Download or stream the latest edition of Strictly Legal here and keep up to date on hot topic legal issues with some of the leading minds in the industry.
Episode 2: Who Owns Blockchain?
Episode 1: Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).
Strictly Legal, an Osgoode Professional Development podcast, is about all things legal.
Each episode, we unpack current issues affecting the legal landscape with the help of some of the industry's leading thinkers.
Download or stream the latest edition of Strictly Legal here and keep up to date on hot topic legal issues with some of the leading minds in the industry.
© 2017 Osgoode Professional Development
China has banned Intial Coin Offerings (ICOs), meanwhile, Canada’s regulators are giving them a big break while outlining their views on the application of securities law to cryptocurrencies. And since the US Securities and Exchange Commission‘s ruled that ICO tokens may be classified as securities, we’ve seen an escalation of regulatory announcements on ICOs.
So, what exactly are ICOs?
This week's guests:
- Lee Schneider, McDermott, Will & Emery (formerly at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP)
- Erik Syvertsen, General Counsel, AngelList
Articles:
Heated fights over intellectual property are nothing new in promising technology markets. Are we poised for a revolution in the protection of all types of IP? The blockchain can be used to control and track the distribution of protected IP. Imagine a world where you could easily register and claim ownership over your original creative works – from music to photos to blogs. With the use of blockchain technology, that world is not so far away.
As the world reacts to the current blockchain mania, many businesses in the community are having discussions on what the future of innovation in the blockchain space looks like.
This week's guest:
- Paul Horbal, Bereskin Parr (@horbal)
Episode 4: Artificial Intelligence - What does it look like in law?
There is a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation currently circulating regarding AI and its application in legal frameworks.
In this episode of Strictly Legal, host Amy ter Haar tries to make sense of the thorny ethical and legal issues of AI with two powerful forces in the Toronto artificial intelligence community: Kathryn Hume and Carole Piovesan .
What are the distinctions between artificial intelligence, machine learning and cognitive computing? And just how far are we from unsupervised machine learning in law?
This week's guest:
- Kathryn Hume, VP Product & Strategy, integrate.ai ( @HumeKathryn )
- Carole Piovesan, Associate, McCarthy Tetrault ( @CJPiovesan )
> Register now for OsgoodePD's Artificial Intelligence: Confronting the Legal and Ethical Issues of AI in Business (April 25, 2018).
Articles & References:
Have an idea for an episode or is there a legal issue you want to here more about?
Have an idea for an episode or is there a legal issue you want to here more about?
Episode 3: The #MeToo Movement - Emerging Trends in Sexual Assault Claims in Canada.
Over the last few weeks, reports of sexual assault have leapt – and these claims are not just bound to Hollywood’s elite. More and more victims are coming forward and sharing their stories with the help of #MeToo.
In this episode Gillian Hnatiw (Partner, Lerners LLP) joins OsgoodePD's Heather Gore Liddell to discuss the Canadian legal landscape in sexual assault and harassment, including why one might choose the civil system over the criminal system or vice versa; whether settlement gives relief to victims; and just how jurisdiction is determined in these cases.
This week's guest:
- Gillian Hnatiw, Learners LLP (@gillianhnatiw)
Upcoming OsgoodePD CPD programs discussing sexual assault claims in Canda:
- The OsgoodePD Legal Guide to Sexual Misconduct in the #MeToo Era, February 7, 2019 - In Person & Webcast attendance available.
Episode 5: What the GDPR Means for Canadian Businesses
A set of sweeping new regulations took effect in late May, which some call it the most important change in data privacy regulation in 20 years. But what does it mean for Canadian businesses?
In this episode of Strictly Legal, host Amy ter Haar sits down with entrepreneur and tech expert Avery Swartz to discuss what GDPR is, why we should care, and the battle for privacy.
Although GDPR is a regulation in EU law how is it affecting Canadians? What is Canada's approach to all this and how can businesses better prepare? All these questions and more are answered here!
This week's guest:
- Avery Swartz, Founder & CEO, Camp Tech. Digital Advisor & consultant, North Coast Group. (@AverySwartz)
> Register now for OsgoodePD's LLM in Privacy and Cybersecurity
Articles & References:
Episode 6: Regulating in the Context of Change
There are few current perceived gaps in our existing regulatory framework. With new regulation and emerging technology, what are the challenges posed for regulators?
In this episode of Strictly Legal, host Amy ter Haar sits down with Malcolm Mercer and Nye Thomas.
Is there a contextual approach to principle-based regulation? Does more regulation solve the problem? Are there other avenues for intervention: social, educational, technological, legal/policy based? All these questions and more are answered here!
This week's guest:
- Malcolm Mercer, Partner at McCarthy Tétrault. Treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario. Elected Bencher since 2011. Served on numerous LSO committees, Tasks Forces and Working Groups.
- Nye Thomas, Executive Director of the Law Commission. Currently leading LCO projects on Internet defamation, legal rights, class actions, and law reform and technology issues.
Articles & References:
In this podcast, Professors Bruce Ryder and Alexandra Flynn discuss the contested legal terrain within the downsizing of the size of the City of Toronto's council by nearly half.
Professors Ryder and Flynn analyze Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba's ruling to set aside Bill 5 and the court's finding that the government interfered with the right to freedom of expression for both candidates and voters when the province of Ontario passed the law in August.
Ultimately, Professors Ryder and Flynn affirm the importance of municipal governance and conclude that wards are but one important component of municipal representation and governance in the determination of municipal authority.
This week's guest:
Articles & References:
- Recreating Boundary Lines: Assessing Toronto's Ward Boundary Review Process
- City of Toronto et al v. Ontario (Attorney General)
- Toronto (City) v. Ontario (Attorney General)
- Bill 5: Better Local Government Act, 2018, S.O. 2018, c. 11
- Bill 31, An Act to amend the City of Toronto Act, 2006, the Municipal Act, 2001, the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 and the Education Act and to revoke two regulations
Episode 7: Municipal Authority & the Charter - Next Steps with Bill 5
Episode 8: New Frontiers in Legal Knowledge Efficiency
In this podcast, Amy ter Haar sits down with Aaron Wenner, CEO, CiteRight and Mara Nickerson, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, to highlight how lawyers and knowledge management professionals are looking to reduce the friction involved in sharing knowledge within legal organizations.
We cover topics such as change management, including - business and practice of law, project management, and process optimization as well as legal technologies and data analytics.
This week's guest:
Episode 9: The Careers We Make - Part I
In this podcast, Eliott Behar, author of Tell it to the World, sits down with us to explain why he thinks legal education is very valuable.
Eliott began a distinguished legal career as a Crown Prosecutor in Toronto and in 2013 moved to Silicon Valley to work for Apple, where he oversaw global investigations into cybercrime and international fraud and theft.
This week's guest:
Episode 9: The Justice We Seek - Part II
Eliott shares details of his experience prosecuting war crimes, about how the crimes involving ethnic cleansing in Kosovo in 1999, of mass murder, forced deportation, massive sexual assault all informed his view of justice.
He talks about his book “Tell it to the World” and the relationship between the justice we seek and the injustices that we commit.
Episode 10: Identity Verification for the Legal Profession
While the majority of industries are welcoming and adopting the technological innovations that are revolutionizing the way Canadian businesses operate, legal services providers have been typically reluctant to rely on digital channels to identify and verify client identity. However, all of this is changing with a new service by SecureKey, called Verified.Me.
In this podcast, Greg Wolfond, CEO of SecureKey talks about what legal professionals need to be aware of the specific solutions that are available to help them to verify the identity of their clients. He talks about how digital verification through Verified.me allows for the streamlining of processes, allowing clients to securely prove they are who they say they are on a strict timeline and through an efficient workflow.
Verified.Me for the Legal Profession: verified.me/law/
This week's guest:
Episode 11: The Impact of AI & Machine Learning in Canada's Legal System Part 1 & 2
Featured Guests: Jimmy Chan and Ayazhan Zhakhan, co-founders Castodia Inc.
Legal and technology communities are increasingly focused on how AI & Machine Learning systems can be developed and governed in a manner consistent with access to justice, respect for human rights and due process. A lot of companies focus on building and deploying AI & machine learning systems but fewer worry about whether they perform as intended in a way that is free of bias, prejudice, and errors that affect end users. Jimmy and Ayazhan talk about ethical AI, Instilling Canadian values in AI, and designing machine learning systems that could be worthy of implicit trust. They draw from their experience in building software to monitor and alert developers about issues in their machine learning models so that organizations can act accordingly.
This podcast highlights Canada's Directive on Automated Decision Making and other Canadian and international initiatives, strategies, voluntary guidelines dedicated to addressing these issues in whole or in part.
Episode 12: Jinyan Li Discusses the Tax Law LLM
Jinyan Li, the program director of the Tax Law LLM at OsgoodePD, discusses why she was interested in teaching at Osgoode, how tax law is evolving and why students should still care.