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Chris is the Managing Director of the Legal Innovation Zone (LIZ) and the Law Practice Program (LPP), both housed at Ryerson University, Toronto. Chris co-founded LIZ, Canada’s first incubator dedicated to legal startups, to help deliver better legal solutions to consumers. It supports legal startups, R & D for law firms, businesses, organizations and government, and practical reform initiatives. Chris led the development of the LPP, a modern approach to lawyer licensing authorized by the Law Society of Ontario. Chris was elected as an Ontario MPP for London West from 2003-2013. He was a member of Cabinet for all 10 years, serving as Minister in 5 Cabinet posts: 4 years as Attorney General, as well as Labour, Training Colleges and Universities, Aboriginal Affairs, and Energy. He drove a number of change initiatives, such as Justice on Target (that reduced, for the first time in 18 years, the time to trial and the number of court appearances per criminal case), a health and safety initiative that reduced workplace injuries by 20 % in 3 years, the 4 Pillars of Family Reform, Civil Justice Reform, the largest funding increase in Legal Aid’s history, and was part of a new approach to indigenous relations recognized by the United Nations. He also helped drive the implementation of the Reaching Higher investments in postsecondary education. For 23 years before politics Chris practiced criminal defence and labour law. He taught part-time for 10 of those years at Western’s Law School, and helped establish and became the first Chairperson of Neighbourhood Legal Services, London and Middlesex, which provides legal services to those who cannot afford them. U of T Law and Cambridge U grad, Chris enjoys life with his wife, Wendy, and 2 daughters. He also runs, and has run 3 Boston Marathons

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Hersh Perlis is the co-founder and Director of the Legal Innovation Zone (LIZ) at Ryerson University. Hersh briefly left the LIZ to become Chief of Staff of Deloitte’s Artificial Intelligence practice - Omnia. Prior to coming to Ryerson he spent almost 5 years at Queens Park as a Senior Advisor to several ministers.

Hersh oversaw a number of initiatives while at Deloitte including the integration of the firms AI practice in Chile and with the development and execution of strategic programs to help continue the rapid growth of Deloitte’s AI practice. While at Queens Park he created, expanded and oversaw a number of key initiatives on behalf of the government. These included the 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games as well as other initiatives such as the Industrial Electricity Incentive Program and the Right to Play program for rural and remote First Nation communities. Prior to his time in government he was Director of Development for a national not-for-profit organization. Sports, politics and the lake are his passion and he enjoys them with his wife and two sons.

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Jason is the Project Manager of the Family Law Portal. Working with Canadian Family Mediation industry leaders, this project aims to educate, screen, and triage couples going through separation to find alternatives to court. Jason is an accomplished education technology entrepreneur. He co-founded a startup in 2012 that aimed to help universities in Africa go online. For this, his company was recognized by the U.N. as one of the top edtech companies to help meet the Millenium Development Goals of 2015. He also went to Davos for the World Economic Forum to present to Christine Lagarde and other leaders on the role of education plays in the spirit of excellence for the African continent. He came to Canada after having his startup acquired by Canadian investors. He now enjoys working on new projects that push the boundaries of innovation.