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La Trobe LawTech

With advancements in technology occurring at unparalleled rates, there becomes an ever-increasing need to understand and explore how law and technology intersect.

La Trobe LawTech is a research, education and consulting hub that that creates opportunities to explore the complex issues that arise when law, technology and innovation meet.

We aim to foster discussion and collaboration between academics, industry, government and practitioners in the production of world-class research and education. Established in 2017 at La Trobe Law School, La Trobe LawTech enjoys close, collaborative relationships with researchers in La Trobe’s Business School, School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of Computer Science and IT.

Law & Technology at La Trobe Law School

The La Trobe Law School is home to a world-class law and technology research team, comprising law and regulatory experts in information and cyber law, information privacy and security, AI, financial intelligence and public law. The team has working relationships with Australian and foreign governments, intergovernmental bodies such as the United Nations and World Bank, and leading international universities, including the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Bologna.

Current work

School staff have long-standing links to the Australian government-funded Data to Decisions Cooperative Research Centre (D2D CRC). Professor Louis de Koker is the national lead of the D2D CRC’s Law and Policy program, that consists of the La Trobe Law School, Deakin Law School and UNSW Law. In that program he is joined by global experts such as Professor Pompeu Casanovas, the founding director of the Institute of Law and Technology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Professor David Watts, the Professor of Information Law at La Trobe. Professor Watts is a former Privacy and Data Protection Commissioner of Victoria and is currently the Big Data lead of the UN Special Rapporteur on Privacy.

Examples of current and recent work by members of the team include:

  • A study of pattern-of-life data usage for identity verification for the Attorney-General’s Department
  • A study on a data governance framework for the National Criminal Intelligence System of the Australian Crime Intelligence Commission.
  • A project funded by the German government on crime, regulation and digital financial services for the Central Bank of Jordan
  • D2D CRC-funded project for the Department of Home Affairs on Compliance by Design and Compliance through Design

Members

Core Activities

Our three core activities are:

  1. Research: Our research seeks to address the most important and relevant ‘lawtech’ issues of our time.
  2. Education: We seek to share our knowledge widely through education.
  3. Consulting: We regularly consult to industry, government and private law firms across our specialty areas.

The intersection of law and technology is remarkably diverse, creating a broad section of specialty areas of interest. Our team’s expertise is extensive and includes the following specialty areas:

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Information Governance
  • Big Data
  • Innovation and Regulation and the Impact on Legal Rights
  • Compliance through design
  • National Security
  • Compliance by Design
  • NewLaw and Innovative Business Models
  • Cyber Warfare
  • Privacy
  • Disruptive Technologies
  • Cyber Resilience
  • Reg Tech
  • Social Media
  • FinTech
  • Online Hate Speech

Examples of funded research projects

Examples of research engagements by La Trobe LawTech members include:

  • An investigation into a governance framework for the National Criminal Intelligence System requested by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (Data to Decisions CRC, $189 000, 2017)
  • A study for the Attorney-General's Department on the usage of pattern-of-life data for identity proofing (Data to Decisions CRC, $203 000, 2017)
  • A study of ways to strengthen financial integrity measures in digital financial services in Jordan, funded by the German government ($120 000, 2017-18)
  • An investigation into automated decision-making that reflects law, policy and other contextual considerations (Data to Decisions CRC, $225 000, 2018-19)

Selected Publications

Articles:

Conference papers:

Book:

Collaboration Opportunities

We welcome opportunities to collaborate with research, government and industry partners. Fostering an inclusive approach towards partnerships assists in ensuring that our research remains current and relevant in a highly dynamic area.

Please contact:

Professor Pompeu Casanovas
La Trobe Law School
Email: P.CasanovasRomeu@latrobe.edu.au
Phone: 03 9479 1276
Profile: https://www.latrobe.edu.au/assc/contact/staff/profile?uname=pcasanovasro

Professor Louis de Koker
La Trobe Law School
Email: l.dekoker@latrobe.edu.au
Phone: 03 9479 1276
Profile: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/law/staff/profile?uname=LDeKoker