Law Students Maria Pepelassis (3L) and Donald Plant (2L) at the CAN-TECH 2025 Fall Conference.
Engaging with Technology and Law in a Shifting Legal Landscape
L. Kerry Vickar Business Law Clinic students attend the Canadian Technology Law Association’s 2025 Fall Conference
On October 23 and 24, 2025, students from the Faculty of Law attended the Canadian Technology Law Association’s (CAN-TECH) 2025 Fall Conference in Toronto, Ontario. The theme of this year’s conference was “Grounded and Global: Empowering Canadian Tech Lawyers in a Shifting Legal Landscape”. Over the two days, the students-Maria Pepelassis (3L) and Donald Plant (2L)-observed vibrant and dynamic panels which explored a range of topics including intellectual property, artificial intelligence (AI), and data sovereignty.
The conference provided a unique opportunity for the students, both members of Robson Hall’s IP & Technology Law Group executive team, to build strong relationships with legal professionals from across Canada. “Attending CAN-TECH’s 2025 fall conference was a fantastic experience to learn about some of the exciting developments taking place in this field, while also exploring some of the unique challenges within the legal profession. With AI advancement occurring at such a fast pace, it is important to stay ahead of the curve while also promoting innovation within Canada,” Plant said.
Throughout the conference, the panels featured riveting discussions leaving much room for thought and reflection.
During the “Caveats and Kill Switches: Professional Obligations in the Use of Legal AI” panel, Al Hounsell of Gowling WLG was one of the speakers. Hounsell serves as the National Director of AI, Innovation and Knowledge at Gowling WLG. During the panel, he spoke to the importance of proper training for lawyers, suggesting that in order to efficiently implement the technology into the legal practice, the training must be efficient and focused to ensure firms do not get left behind, while also maintaining client confidentiality and professional obligations.
Matthew Shogilev, of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, was a panelist during “Minor Details, Major Consequences: The Challenges of Contracting With Minors?”. During this session, Shogilev explored the disparity between the rapid pace of technological advancement and current regulations which exist to protect minors. This panel analyzed many of the challenges faced with respect to governing minors’ access to digital services, achieving age assurance, and some of the privacy concerns that come with contracting with minors.
On day two, students attended “Autonomous by Design: Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Agentic AI”. Agentic AI—systems capable of autonomous decision-making, goal formation, and adaptive behavior—are fast becoming a frontier issue for legal and compliance professionals. This panel explored the questions around accountability, oversight, and legal personhood that existing Canadian legal frameworks have yet to fully address. Of unique focus was the fact that these systems are increasingly acting with independence, and addressed how tech lawyers can engage with the risks associated with these new systems. The students found this topic to be particularly interesting, as they are entering the legal profession at the same time that this technology is being introduced, so it is imperative to build the correct ethical guardrails now to ensure their future practice can stay grounded during the shifting legal landscape.
Maria and Donald also had the opportunity to engage with legal professionals in roundtable discussions on various topics, including data sovereignty and agentic AI. “The roundtables offered us a unique opportunity to see multiple legal viewpoints on the same issues,” Maria said. “This conference helped us understand pressing concerns in technology law from the perspectives of industry leaders, technologists, and lawyers helping clients navigate an uncertain legal landscape.”
The students are grateful for the opportunity to attend CAN-TECH’s 2025 Fall Conference, and express their deepest gratitude to all the panelists for engaging with them and discussing such important topics. We truly look forward to implementing the lessons learned throughout the conference and are confident that our experience here will guide our careers for years to come!