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The Samuelson-Glushko Professor of Law

uOttawa’s Faculty of Law has carved out a space in legal education that puts public policy concerns in the forefront.

The Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) is Canada’s first and only public interest technology law clinic. Based at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, its team of legal experts and law students works together to advance the public interest on critical law and technology issues. The Samuelson-Glushko Professor of Law serves as the Director of the Clinic, leading its work on live issues at the cutting edge of law and technology. Thanks to a generous donation from Professors Pam Samuelson and Robert Glushko, the Clinic and the Professorship undertake to make policy makers and the public aware of the impact of digital technology on our lives.

Chairholder

Vivek Krishnamurthy is the Samuelson-Glushko Professor of Law and Director of the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC).

Vivek’s teaching, scholarship, and clinical legal practice focus on the complex regulatory and human rights-related challenges that arise in cyberspace. He advises governments, activists, and companies on the human rights impacts of new technologies and is a frequent public commentator on emerging technology and public policy issues.

Vivek was previously the Assistant Director of Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic and Counsel in the Corporate Social Responsibility Practice at Foley Hoag LLP. He is a Rhodes Scholar and clerked for the Hon. Morris J. Fish of the Supreme Court of Canada upon his graduation from Yale Law School. Vivek is currently a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, an Affiliate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and a Senior Associate of the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Prof. Vivek Krishnamurthy

Recent publications of the chairholder

Chapters in books

  • Artificial Intelligence and Canadian Human Rights Law, in Artificial Intelligence and the Law in Canada (Teresa Scassa & Florian Martin-Bariteau, eds.) (forthcoming 2021 with the University of Ottawa Press).
  • Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights: Probing the Relationship, in Leading Legal Disruption: Artificial Intelligence—A Toolkit for Lawyers and the Law (Pina D’Agostino et al., eds.) (forthcoming with LexisNexis Canada).

Papers in refereed journals (or equivalent)

Selected popular publications

Donors

Professors Pamela Samuelson and Robert Glushko
Donors

“We are pleased to support CIPPIC because it provides students with the opportunity to address important legal and policy issues arising from advances in new technologies.”

Pamela Samuelson and Robert Glushko

— Professors

Thanks to the generosity and vision of two American academics, uOttawa’s Faculty of Law received a boost that has enhanced its reputation as a leader in the field of digital technology and the law. Professors Robert Glushko and Pamela Samuelson, a husband and wife team who teach at the University of California, Berkeley, created the Samuelson-Glushko Professorship at the uOttawa faculty with a gift of $1 Million over five years. The endowment has re-invigorated the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), launched at uOttawa over 15 years ago and built with seed funding from Samuelson and Glushko.

Pamela Samuelson is the Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law and Information at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and Co-Director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology. 

Robert Glushko is a cognitive scientist and entrepreneur, co-founder of three companies, and currently on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley Cognitive Science Program.

The couple have funded four Glushko-Samuelson clinics in the U.S. and are starting another in the Netherlands, all specializing in advocating for the public interest in technology issues.  CIPPIC is the only clinic of its kind in Canada

We are pleased to support CIPPIC because it provides students with the opportunity to address important legal and policy issues arising from advances in new technologies. We have high confidence that under Vivek's leadership, the public interest on information policy issues in Canada will be well represented through CIPPIC projects.

— Pamela Samuelson & Robert Glushko

image of Vivek Krishnamurthy

Thoughts on the latest issues at the intersection of law and cyberspace

Visit Professor Krishnamurthy’s website

About CIPPIC

Established in 2003, Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) features a team of legal experts and law students working to advance the public interest on critical law and technology issues, including:

  1. Privacy
  2. Free Expression
  3. Intellectual Property
  4. Telecommunications Policy
  5. Data and Algorithmic Governance

CIPPIC’s mandate has three inter-related components:

  1. We speak up for the public interest when key decisions about technology law and policy are being made by Parliament, the courts, regulatory agencies, international bodies, and private companies;
  2. We provide pro bono legal counsel to clients with technology law matters that implicate the public interest; and
  3. We develop public education materials and resources on technology law and policy issues.

Visit CIPPIC’s website.