1. Right brain meets left at Legal Innovation Zone
By Will Sloan
May 04, 2015
Ryerson launched theLegal Innovation Zoneon April 29. From left: Director Hersh Perlis; keynote speaker Carla Goldstein;
Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur; Provost and Vice President Academic Mohamed Lachemi; andExecutive Director Chris
Bentley. Photoby Clifton Li.
“Can the right brain exist in a left-brain industry?” This was the question posed byCarla Goldstein,director
of Strategic Initiatives at BMO Financial Group, at the launch of Ryerson’s new Legal Innovation Zone on
April 29. “Do you have that side – that meandering side,thatcreative side – and can it fit into that linear,
rational,more stringentside ofthe legal industry?”
If you do, you mightbe a good fit for Ryerson’s newestincubator.The Legal Innovation Zone is a place for
innovative thinkers to develop ideas for Canada’s legal system.The zone will attemptto shake up the status
quo of Canadian criminal justice,which has remained more or less static for 100 years. It will be a meeting
place for students,entrepreneurs,lawyers,tech experts, governmentmembers and industryprofessionals
with new ideas aboutan old field.
“Who knows whatthe Uber of law will be?” said Ryerson PresidentSheldon Levy. “No one knows what that
will be. But if it happens,Iam absolutelyconfidentit will be here.”
Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur also praised the conceptat the launch event. “I’m so excited to see
creative young minds working together in the legal justice sector.That’s the secretfor access to justice.…
You have the chance,under the leadership ofChris Bentley, to learn,and after that, share your knowledge
with all of us.”
The Legal Innovation Zone is the latestaddition to Ryerson’s zone learning model,which offers students
collaborative space to develop sustainable new business,civic,and social ventures.Since the foundation of
the DMZ in 2010,eight new zones (including fashion,transmedia,design and fabrication,and social
ventures) have launched.

2. “I see the zones as a bridge between whatstudents and talented youth are learning in the classroom and
what they wantto do to pursue the developmentoftheir own ideas for a business or a social venture,” said
Mohamed Lachemi,Ryerson provostand vice presidentacademic.“Zones also enable cross-disciplinary
collaborations,and whatyou see are collisions ofideas.We can see fashion designers working with
engineers,lawyers working with managers.”
To learn more aboutthe Legal Innovation Zone, go to http://www.legalinnovationzone.ca/.
Other recent stories on zone learning
initiatives: http://www.ryerson.ca/ryersontoday/data/news/2015/04/20150408-the-launch-zone-takes-off.html
http://www.ryerson.ca/news/news/General_Public/20131220_zonelearning.html
http://www.ryerson.ca/news/news/General_Public/20140929-new-social-ventures-zone-expands-innovative-
hands-on-learning.html