Dr. Gideon Christian Photo credit: University of Calgary

Nigerian-born Calgary University professor appointed Board member of prestigious Canadian Legal Information Institute

Thursday 7 December 2023

The prestigious Canadian Legal Information Institute has announced the appointment of Nigerian-born University of Calgary professor, Dr. Gideon Christian to its Board of Directors

Dr. Gideon Christian is an Assistant Professor of AI and Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Calgary. Before joining the University of Calgary, he worked as a technology lawyer for the Government of Canada within the federal Department of Justice. Dr. Christian’s research focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence and law, as well as the legal implications of emerging technologies. He has testified as an expert on the use of AI in immigration decisions before the House of Commons Committee on Citizenship and Immigration (CIMM). He is the Ontario Bar Association 2023/2024 Chief Justice of Ontario Fellow in Research. His fellowship aimed to develop ethical guidelines for the use of Generative AI in the legal profession. He was recently awarded grant from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to research on racial bias arising from the private sector development of AI facial recognition technology.

Gideon Christian obtained his law degree (LL.B) from the University of Lagos in Nigeria, an LL.M (with specialization in Law and Technology) and a PhD from the University of Ottawa. During his doctoral studies, Gideon was a SSHRC – Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Doctoral Scholar.

Prior to joining the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary in August 2019, Gideon worked part-time as an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, and fulltime as Legal Counsel with the National Litigation Sector at the federal Department of Justice where he conducted electronic discovery in high-profile litigation involving the Government of Canada.

Research Activities

Gideon researches in the area of law and technology and specifically on electronic discovery, artificial intelligence and law, and environmental impacts of technology. Gideon’s research work has been published in Canadian Journal of Law and Technology, Utrecht Journal of International and European Law, African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science, and Canadian Bar Review (forthcoming).

Current Research Works:

  • Algorithmic Bias – Legal framework for the use of artificial intelligence technology in recidivism risk assessment in the Canadian criminal justice system.
  • In Search of Greener Data: Environmental Impact of Data-Driven Technologies.
  • Breaking a legal monopoly: Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL) in the age of artificial intelligence technologies

The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII; French: Institut canadien d’information juridique) is a non-profit organization created and funded by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada in 2001 on behalf of its 14 member societies. CanLII is a member of the Free Access to Law Movement, which includes the primary stakeholders involved in free, open publication of law throughout the world. CanLII offers free public access to over 2.4 million documents[2] across more than 300 case law and legislative databases.[3] It is used by lawyers, legal professionals and the general public, with usage averaging over 30,000 visits per day.[4] The case law database is reportedly growing at a rate of approximately 120,000 new cases each year, 20% of which are historic cases which are included to enrich existing databases.

Sources: Canadian Legal Information Institute, University of Calgary and Wikipedia