Sara Smyth
Associate
Direct: 604-398-2176
Fax: 604-609-6688
E-mail: ssmyth@knlegal.ca
Assistant: Jennifer Sharein jsharein@knlegal.ca
Sara is a member of the Law Society of British Columbia and a lawyer in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia. She was called to the British Columbia bar in 2003 after articling with a large corporate commercial firm in Vancouver and clerking at the British Columbia Court of Appeal. She then obtained her LL.M. and Ph.D. in law, followed by a distinguished career in academia.
Sara has been a visiting scholar and taught at law schools in North America and Australia, including the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Georgetown University Law School in Washington, D.C., LaTrobe University and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. She has consulted widely to government and industry in Canada and Australia in the areas of cyber-risk and data-breach response, as well as privacy, data security and regulatory compliance with laws governing new technologies. She is the author of five law books and more than 20 articles in peer-reviewed law journals and elsewhere.
Sara joined Kovacs & Norell in 2021. Her practice is primarily focused on insurance defence and commercial litigation.
Outside of the law, Sara enjoys hiking, skiing and travelling.
Areas of Practice
- Insurance Defence
- Commercial Litigation
- Cyber-Risk and Data-Breach Response
- Privacy and Data Security Law
- Laws governing new technologies, including biometrics and drones
Bar Admissions
- Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia, 2020
- Bar of British Columbia, 2003
Education
- Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Ontario; Ph.D. – 2008
- University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, Toronto, Ontario; LL.M. – 2005
- University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia; LL.B. – 2001
- Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia; B.A. – 1997
Published Works
- Sara M. Smyth, Biometrics, Surveillance and the Law: Societies of Restricted Access, Discipline and Control (Routledge, 2019).
- Sara M. Smyth, “Can we Trust Artificial Intelligence in Criminal Law Enforcement?” (2019) 17(1) Canadian Journal of Law and Technology
- Sara M. Smyth, “The Warfare of the Future,” in Henry Prunckun (Ed.) Cyber Weaponry – Issues and Implications of Digital Arms (Springer, 2018).
- Sara M. Smyth, Drone Controversies: Ethical and Legal Debates Behind Targeted Killing and Electronic Surveillance (Thomson Reuters, 2016).
- Sara M. Smyth, Cybercrime in Canadian Criminal Law (Carswell, 2015 & 2010).
- Sara M. Smyth, “Does Australia Really Need Mandatory Data Breach Notification Laws – And If So, What Kind?” (2013) Journal of Law Information and Science 22(2).
- Sara M. Smyth, “Internet Intermediary Liability in Canada” in Karim Ismaili, Jane B. Sprott & Kim Varma (Eds.) Canadian Criminal Justice Policy: A Contemporary Reader (Oxford University Press, 2012).
- Sara M. Smyth, “The New Social Media Paradox: A Symbol of Self-Determination or a Boon for Big Brother?” International Journal of Cyber-Criminology, January-June 2012, Vol 6 (1): 924–950.
- Sara M. Smyth, Child Pornography and the Law in Canada – A New Agenda for the Information Age (Pearson, 2010).
Languages
- English
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