About Us

About Us

CIPPIC's inaugural internship group

Clockwise, from lower left:

1. Marcus Bornfreund
2. Prof. Michael Geist
3. Rob Dupelle
4. Michael Yang
5. Warren Yeung
6. Sukesh Kamra
7. Alex Cameron
8. Milana Homsi
9. Sue Gemmell (Admin Support)
10. Philippa Lawson (Director)
11. Jason Young
12. Prof. Jennifer Chandler

About the Clinic

The Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) was established at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law in the fall of 2003. It is the first legal clinic of its kind in Canada. In 2007, technology innovator and entrepreneur Dr. Robert Glushko and his wife, law and technology pioneer Professor Pamela Samuelson, made a large donation to CIPPIC, allowing the clinic to continue its student-centered research and advocacy on technology-related policy and law reform.

Upper year and graduate law students assist clinic lawyers in researching issues and drafting reports and submissions to government, commenting on proposed legislative reforms, providing legal advice to individuals and organizations, and developing online resources for the public on legal issues arising from new technologies.

Each term, student interns are assigned to current cases and projects, thus ensuring a real world experience on cutting edge issues involving law and technology. CIPPIC also runs a full-time summer fellowship program during twelve weeks each summer.

The clinic represents consumer and other public interests in such areas as intellectual property, consumer protection in e-commerce, domain name governance, personal information protection and privacy.

Mission

CIPPIC has a dual mission:

• to fill voids in public policy debates on technology law issues, ensure balance in policy and law-making processes, and provide legal assistance to under-represented organizations and individuals on matters involving the intersection of law and technology; and

• to provide a high quality and rewarding clinical legal education experience to students of law.

Case and Project Selection

While its mandate is broad, the Clinic cannot take on every case that comes to it. Projects and cases are selected by the Clinic Director based on a number of considerations including clinic resources, in-house expertise, appropriateness for student work, implications for public policy, and need for pro bono representation.

Funding

CIPPIC was established in 2003 with the aid of a start-up grant from an Amazon.com Cy Pres fund, received by Prof. Michael Geist. This grant was matched by the Ontario Research Network for Electronic Commerce (ORNEC), a public-private e-commerce research initiative. Since then, the clinic has been funded by a variety of research grants and contracts as well as individual donations, most notably from Dr. Robert Glushko and Pamela Samuelson, patrons of a number of technology law clinics in North America. The University of Ottawa provides further support for the clinic.

The Clinic is seeking additional funding in order to maintain, and if possible expand, its operations. If you wish to help us out, please visit our donate page or if you wish to discuss funding opportunities, please contact the Clinic Director or Prof. Michael Geist

Clinic Staff

David Fewer Director Tel.: 613-562-5800 x 2558 Email:

David Fewer is the Director of CIPPIC. David is an intellectual property and technology lawyer, and brings a decade of practice experience to CIPPIC's advocacy on intellectual property and technology files. Prior to joining CIPPIC, Mr. Fewer practised intellectual property and technology law with national firms in British Columbia and Ontario, and clerked with the Federal Court of Canada. He completed an LL.M. at the University of Toronto, where he wrote on intellectual property policy and the application of the Charter to copyright law. He has taught and written extensively on intellectual property and technology law issues, and is a frequent commentator in the media on such issues.

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Tamir Israel Staff Lawyer Tel.: 613-562-5800 x 2914 Email:

Tamir articled at CIPPIC and has since joined the clinic as staff lawyer. He conducts research and advocacy on various digital rights-related issues, with a focus on online privacy and anonymity, net neutrality, intellectual property, intermediary liability, spam, e-commerce, and Internet governance generally. His advocacy activities have take him before the courts, various regulators, and parliament. Prior to joining CIPPIC, Tamir received a J.D. from the University of Toronto and a B.A. from the University of British Columbia. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of Privacy International and lectures on Internet regulation matters at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies.

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Kent Mewhort Legal Staff (awaiting call to the bar) Tel.: 613-562-5800 x 2556 Email:    (PGP Public Key)

Kent joined CIPPIC in 2011 for his articles as the Law Foundation of Ontario Public Interest Articling Fellow.  He continues to work as a clinic staff member, focusing on open data, open licenses, open access to information and copyright issues.  He also leads the legal project of Creative Commons Canada.  Kent has degrees in common law and civil law from McGill University. He also has experience as a software engineer in telecommunications and the space industry, and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science. He is an avid promotor of civil liberties on the internet, open and transparent government, access to justice, open licensing and community-driven pursuits of the commons.

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External Advisory Board

CIPPIC's external advisory board is made up of the following eminent scholars, activists and experts in the field of technology law:

• Diane Cabell, Former Director, Clinical Program in Cyberlaw, Harvard University
• Cindy Cohn, Legal Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law, Harvard University
• Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director, Electronic Privacy Information Centre
• Pam Samuelson, Professor, University of California at Berkeley

Internal Advisory Board

CIPPIC also benefits from the guidance of its internal advisory board, which is composed of faculty members of the University of Ottawa Centre for Law, Technology and Society, as well as selected alumni and associates.

Contact CIPPIC

Email:
Telephone: 613-562-5800 x2553
Fax: 613-562-5417

Mailing address:

CIPPIC, the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic

University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law - Common Law Section
57 Louis Pasteur St.
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5

Office location:

100 Thomas More

Suite 306, Brooks Building
Ottawa, Ontario