News

This story originally appeared in the 2024 edition of Hearsay, the Schulich School of Law Alumni Magazine.

The Schulich School of Law is pleased to welcome Michael Karanicolas ('11) as the new James S. Palmer Chair in Public Policy and Law. He joins the faculty this month as a tenured associate professor.

The Chair is named after James S. Palmer, QC (’52), who was passionate about fostering informed public policy and advancing education that contributes to good governance. Through his and his family’s generous support, and that of other donors, the James S. Palmer Chair in Public Policy and Law was established in 2015 to provide intellectual leadership and to participate in projects that impact public policy and law. Building on the depth of research expertise at Schulich Law, the Palmer Chair brings together scholars, students, policymakers, and advocates to engage with current policy issues.

“I am enormously excited to return to Schulich Law in this role, and to apply the teaching, research, and advocacy portfolio that I developed over a decade-plus career of policy work in service to my alma mater,” says Karanicolas.

Professor Karanicolas previously served as the inaugural executive director of the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy. In that capacity, he regularly engaged with California regulators including delivering testimony to the California State Senate on the impact of online platforms on journalism and the regulation of artificial intelligence. Prior to his time at UCLA, he led the Wikimedia Initiative for Intermediaries and Information at the Yale Information Society Project, where he remains an affiliated fellow.

Before his academic career, he spent 10 years as a human rights advocate working on projects connected to freedom of expression, transparency, and digital rights. The bulk of this time was spent with the Centre for Law and Democracy, a Halifax-based NGO, though he also carried out consultancies for the Open Government Partnership, UNESCO, and the Administrative Conference of the United States. In this capacity, he led law reform campaigns to promote foundational rights for democracy in more than 20 countries and was a regular presence in Canadian Parliament where issues connected to the regulation of new technologies were under discussion.

“Technology law is, by definition, a rapidly evolving and dynamic area of scholarship. One of the things that makes it unique is that there are so many diverse hubs for shaping policy, including governments, regulators, large tech companies, and multi-stakeholder bodies,” says Karanicolas. “This Chair has the potential to have a transformative impact on both the technology law and public policy landscape at Dalhousie. I look forward to connecting with my faculty colleagues, students, alumni, and other stakeholders as we embark on this exciting new chapter.”

His scholarly research generally revolves around the application of human rights standards in an online context, including content moderation, privacy and surveillance, digital contracts, internet governance, open government and the right to information, intellectual property law, and the regulation of political speech. He has a BA from Queen’s University, an LLB from the Schulich School of Law, and an LLM from the University of Toronto.

“Michael is a perfect choice for the Palmer Chair in Public Policy and Law. His experience at both the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy and the Yale Information Society Project provides a strong foundation for the public policy work of the chair,” says Schulich Law Dean Sarah Harding. “He will also add depth to our Law & Technology Institute at a crucial time when innovations are quickly altering the shape of legal practice. I’m very optimistic about the energy and new directions he will bring to our community.”