We were pleased to be of service to Ceiba Law for their annual retreat this year. Our director Tammy Mackenzie joined the firm partners and associates to discuss the changes and opportunities of AI for lawyers in cybersecurity and corporate law. A huge shout out to partners Vanessa Henri, Elodie Meyer and Shawn Ford for an invigorating retreat and inspiring firm ethos. A law firm purpose built for the 21st century.
Category: Sector: Justice
Hard Questions: Justice
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Explaining the Comparatively Less Robust Human Rights Impact of the ECOWAS Court on Legislative and Judicial Decision-making, Process, and Action in Nigeria
This article outlines and tackles two inter-related puzzles regarding the comparatively much less robust human rights impact that the ECOWAS Court (in effect, West Africa’s international human rights court) has had on the generally more democratic legislative/judicial branch of decision-making and action in Nigeria vis-à-vis the generally more authoritarian executive branch within Nigeria, the country that is the source of most of the cases filed before the court. The article then discusses and analyzes the examples and extent of the court’s human rights impact on legislative/judicial branch decision-making and action in that key country. This is followed by the development of a set of analytical, multi-factorial, explanations for the two inter-connected puzzles that animate the enquiry in this article. In the end, the article argues that several factors have combined to produce the comparatively much less robust human rights impact that the ECOWAS Court has had on domestic legislative and judicial decision-making, process, and action in Nigeria, through restricting the extent to which the latter could mobilize more robustly the court’s human rights-relevant processes and rulings.
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Public Consultation: AI & Copyright, Canada
This white paper is a response to Industry Canada’s public call for expert consultation on AI and Copyright. The consultation had specific questions, which are reproduced with our
answers, below. -
Book Review: Litigating Artificial Intelligence by Jesse Beatson, Gerold Chan, and Jill R. Presser
It is no longer news that artificial intelligence (AI) is being deployed across the board in the legal industry, although the extent of AI use varies by jurisdiction.
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Artificial intelligence, law, and vulnerabilities
Social vulnerability is a measurement of the ability of communities to adequately respond to external stresses (Blaikie et al., 1994), such as the ongoing “SARS-CoV-2” – Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (Bankoff & Hilhorst, 2004). During these periods of upheaval, people with disabilities, racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, children from low-income families, the elderly, migrants and refugees, the immunocompromised and those with chronic health conditions, and the homeless among others are considered to be at greater risk from the adverse effects, and potential losses incurred by these external stressors. They are also the slowest to recover from such emergencies. For example, recent data from the COVID-19 pandemic shows that vulnerable populations were much more likely to contract the virus, were less likely to receive the vaccine because of hesitancy and distrust of “Big Pharma”, yet they were more in need of social assistance compared to other segments of society (Cheong et al., 2021; Kazemi et al., 2022; St‐Denis, 2020). Classified as “socially vulnerable” by the United Nations (n.d.), these populations are almost always economically marginalized, politically under-represented, and socially underserved. (Un)surprisingly, they are predominantly racialized (Black and other people of color), and have a long history of enduring violations of their civil rights and freedoms, even during disaster response and recovery efforts. The factors and/or characteristics that determine the social vulnerability of a group differ from country to country, however, there are some universal similarities. Risk factors that contribute to the vulnerability of these groups include poverty, unemployment, and lack of access to resources (e.g., adequate healthcare, education, housing, safe drinking water, transportation, and other social services) (Cutter et al., 2003). Socially vulnerable populations are also stigmatized and discriminated against by the wider society, and even criminalized in law, policy, and practice. Forced to live in environments of severe inequality, they are unable to thrive, feel safe, and actively participate in all aspects of society (UNDP, n.d.). When compared to the general population, the capacity of socially vulnerable groups to cope with, respond to, and recover from the adverse impacts of crises is hindered by the inordinate obstacles they encounter in their daily lives (Wisner et al., 2004). These obstacles are indicators of structural inequities and barriers that hamper fair and equitable access (for all) to the resources needed to satisfy one’s basic needs. Social vulnerability is then a combination of the risk factors and socio-cultural markers listed above, which hinder full participation in economic, social, political, and cultural life (UN DESA, 2016). The amplification of existing inequities during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic has re-ignited discussions about global inequities and the challenges they present to socially vulnerable populations.