Ian is the founder and first president of the Canadian IT Law Association (IT.Can), Canada's first national computer law association; and is a past president of the Computer Law Association, Inc., (now known as iTechLaw) the U.S.-based organization that serves information technology lawyers in North America and elsewhere. He is also a member of the editorial board of several computer law publications including the Oxford International Journal of Law and Information Technology.
Ian was the editor in chief of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review and served as a research assistant to Professor Martin L. Friedland, then Dean, as well as Frank Iacobucci, who succeeded M.L Friedland as Dean and later served as Deputy Attorney General, Chief Justice of the Federal Court and a member of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Robert Sharpe, who later served as Dean and is now a member of the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Ian is a very frequent speaker and panellist at conferences throughout the world relating to the IT, online gaming and Outsourcing sectors. He has organized IT law conferences in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, Brazil and India.
Ian is the author or editor of many books including Outsourcing Transactions: A Practical Guide (Canada Law Book, 2006) with John Beardwood and Kyer and Fecenko on Computer-Related Agreements: A Practical Guide, Second Edition (Butterworths, Toronto, 1997) with Mark Fecenko.
The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (see www.lexpert.ca) ranks Ian as one of The Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada. For several years Ian has been listed in the International Who's Who of Internet and E-commerce Lawyers. In 2009, one interviewee said that Ian is "one of the most impressive IT lawyers I have come across in my career."
Honours and Awards
- Ranked by Chambers Global Guide 2012 for Information Technology
- Recognized by Best Lawyers in Canada 2011 as a leading practitioner in both Information Technology Law and Technology Law
- Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2010: most frequently recommended, Technology Transactions; consistently recommended, Computer & IT Law
- Listed as a leading lawyer for Outsourcing and as highly recommended for Information Technology by Practical Law Company in 2009
- Ranked as one of The Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory
- Twice rated as one of the top 25 IT lawyers in the world in Euromoney's The Best of the Best
- Granted the highest rating by Martindale Hubbell
- Listed in Chambers Global Guide to the world's leading lawyers and Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers for Internet & E-Commerce Lawyers
- Recipient of the University of Waterloo 2009 Arts Alumni Achievement Award
Community Involvement
Ian serves on a volunteer basis as board chair of GRAND NCE, a federal networked centre of excellence in graphics, animation and new media and he advise Pax Christi Chorale, a community choral group. In the past he has been an advisor to IMPACT, a student entrepreneurial association, a member of the advisory group of ePresence, an open source multimedia initiative of the University of Toronto and other educational institutions and board chair of NECTAR, a national research network focused on multimedia learning tools.