About Us

The Artificial Intelligence Risk and Regulation Lab was founded in 2023 at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law under the umbrella of the BC Access to Justice Centre for Excellence. The Lab began with a focus on how emerging artificial intelligence technologies affect access to justice and the experience of self represented litigants. This early work demonstrated that AI raises complex legal and institutional questions that reach far beyond individual users and touch on the foundations of legal systems in Canada and internationally.

The Lab’s research examines the legal, ethical, and institutional dimensions of artificial intelligence, with particular attention to how regulatory frameworks, governance structures, and doctrinal principles evolve in response to new forms of algorithmic decision making. As part of its connection to the access to justice community, the Lab is especially attentive to how AI may help expand or unintentionally constrain access to legal processes, remedies, and information.

The Lab’s current projects explore themes such as risk management methodologies, and regulatory development. Through this academic inquiry, the Lab seeks to support student learning, encourage interdisciplinary collaboration, and deepen understanding of how emerging technologies interact with law and public institutions.

The Lab’s primary objectives include:


• advancing scholarly research on AI’s risks to the legal system

• examining how AI intersects with access to justice and legal system design

• supporting interdisciplinary academic collaboration across fields related to technology and law

• contributing to student learning and research training opportunities

Meet the Team


  • Lab Director

    Michael Litchfield, the Lab’s Director, is an academic, lawyer and management consultant. Michael is also the Director of the Business Law Clinic at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, and Associate Director of ACE. Michael’s current research work focuses on law reform and the regulation and management of the risks of AI implementation. In the private sector, Michael regularly speaks on and advises organizations on AI policy and regulatory compliance. Michael’s private sector work as a lawyer and management consultant has focused on providing corporate governance and risk management advice to a wide clients in a wide array of sectors.

  • Research Fellow

    Daniel James Escott is the Lab’s first Research Fellow, in association with ACE, and has an extensive background in AI regulation, legal process engineering, and access to justice. He previously clerked at the Federal Court, and is currently pursuing an LLM at Osgoode Hall Law School, where he is writing a thesis on the impact of technology in legal processes on access to justice. Daniel authored the Federal Court’s Notice on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Court Proceedings and its Interim Principles and Guidelines on the Court’s Use of Artificial Intelligence, and now advises Courts and other organizations on the use of AI in law, uniquely qualifying him in the field of AI Risk and Regulation.

    Prior to his work in artificial intelligence, Daniel was the Lead Researcher on Technology and Access to Justice at the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice.