Karen Eltis
Appointment
Solution Network Member
Canadian AI Safety Institute Research Program
Safeguarding Courts from Synthetic AI Content
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About
Karen Eltis is a full professor of Law at the University of Ottawa and a member of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society. Recently awarded the Mundell Medal by the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario for excellence in legal writing and innovation, Eltis specializes in artificial intelligence and cyberlaw from a comparative perspective, with a focus on democratic institutions and access to justice. She served as senior advisor to the National Judicial Institute and has taught at Columbia Law School.
She is a past affiliate with Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy and is fluent in five languages. Prior to joining the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, Professor Eltis was a litigation associate in New York City.
Her research on privacy was cited multiple times by the Supreme Court of Canada, (in A.B. v. Bragg (2012), Quebec (Attorney General) v. 9147-0732 Québec inc. (2020), and Sherman Estate v. Donovan (2021)) as well as by other Canadian and foreign courts. Eltis’ book, titled Courts, Litigants and the Digital Age ( University of Toronto Press) is in its second edition. She also co-edits Defamation Law, Canada, UK, Australia, United States, Thomson Reuters. This landmark text, which addresses new developments including cyberdefamation and deep fakes, is highly regarded and cited in over 400 legal cases across Canada.
Awards
- David Walter Mundell Medal Medal for Excellence in Legal Writing, Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario 2023 (2024)
- Finalist, Walter Owen Book Prize (2017)
- Innovative Course Designation, Columbia Law School for Comparative Constitutional Rights in the Digital Age (2012)
- Sherman Estate v.Donovan, 2021 SCC 25, [2021] 2 S.C.R. 75
- Québec (procureur général) c. 9147-0732 Québec inc., 2020 SCC 32
- Haaretz.com v. Goldhar, 2018 SCC 28, [2018] 2 S.C.R. 3 (collective report)
- A.B. v. Bragg Communications Inc., 2012 SCC 46, [2012] 2 S.C.R. 567
Relevant Publications
- Eltis, Karen., Felsky, Martin (2024) “Guidelines for the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Canadian Courts” prepared for the Canadian Judicial Council. Online: https://cjc-ccm.ca/sites/default/files/documents/2024/AI%20Guidelines%20-%20FINAL%20-%202024-09%20-%20EN.pdf
- Eltis, Karen (2024) « Une réflexion transsystémique sur le déploiement des nouvelles technologies en justice et ses retombées institutionnelles 565 McGill Law Journal
- K. Eltis, (2022) Courts in the Digital Age: ‘Adaptive Leadership’ for Harnessing Technology and Enhancing Access to Justice in C. Hunt and R. Diab (eds.), 'Digital Privacy and the Charter' (Thompson Reuters)
- Eltis, Karen, (2019) Is 'Truthtelling' Online Reasonable ? Restoring Context to Cyber Defamation Analysis McGill Law Journal 63(3)
- Shaheen Shariff and Karen Eltis (2018) Online Sexual Violence : An Opportunity for Partnerships between Law and Education » Education Law Journal avec D (McGill).
- K. Eltis., Y. Mersel (2018), Revisiting the Limits on Judicial Expression in the Digital Age: Striving Towards Proportionally in the Cyberintimidation Context” National Journal of Constitutional Law 247.