Philippa Lawson
Former Director, Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic
Philippa (Pippa) Lawson was called to the Ontario bar in 1991. She practised telecommunications, privacy and consumer protection law with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre for twelve years before starting up the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), a technology law clinic based at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. As managing director of CIPPIC, her work focused on establishing legal precedent in the public interest, producing relevant research and online resources, training students in effective advocacy, and ensuring that the public interest is robustly represented in policy development and law-making processes on issues involving new technologies. She is a nationally recognized privacy law expert and public interest advocate and has been a frequent media commentator and presenter at national and international conferences on issues arising from new technologies.
In December 2008, she moved to Whitehorse, Yukon, where she works part time as a legal counsel for the Department of Justice, Yukon Government, while continuing to consult in her areas of expertise. In recent years, Pippa has researched and written papers, reports, website materials and manuals on privacy law, identity theft and the constitutionality of federal government “lawful access” proposals. In 2014-15, she was the lead researcher and author of an in-depth report published by the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association on the privacy implications of connected cars.

Philippa (Pippa) Lawson was called to the Ontario bar in 1991. She practised telecommunications, privacy and consumer protection law with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre for twelve years before starting up the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), a technology law clinic based at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. As managing director of CIPPIC, her work focused on establishing legal precedent in the public interest, producing relevant research and online resources, training students in effective advocacy, and ensuring that the public interest is robustly represented in policy development and law-making processes on issues involving new technologies. She is a nationally recognized privacy law expert and public interest advocate and has been a frequent media commentator and presenter at national and international conferences on issues arising from new technologies.
In December 2008, she moved to Whitehorse, Yukon, where she works part time as a legal counsel for the Department of Justice, Yukon Government, while continuing to consult in her areas of expertise. In recent years, Pippa has researched and written papers, reports, website materials and manuals on privacy law, identity theft and the constitutionality of federal government “lawful access” proposals. In 2014-15, she was the lead researcher and author of an in-depth report published by the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association on the privacy implications of connected cars.