Melissa Lukings first joined Lister Beaupré as an Articling Student in August 2022 and returned as a Civil Litigation and Corporate Law Associate following her Call to the Ontario Bar in June 2023. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of New Brunswick and her Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics from Memorial University of Newfoundland. She is a published author, content writer, intersectional activist, and research assistant with a background in social justice, human rights, advocacy, data privacy, and cybersecurity law.
Melissa has an extensive history of social activism and community involvement with non-profit organizations, particularly those with a primary mandate centering on: harm reduction; mental health advocacy and education; crisis and suicide intervention; violence prevention; sexual health and reproductive justice; human rights; and access to justice within marginalized community networks.
While completing her law degree, Melissa Lukings co-authored a ten-article series on cybersecurity laws in Canada, the “Understanding Canadian Cybersecurity Laws” series, which was published with IT World Canada. This series was honoured with a Gold Award for Best Blog Column in the 2020 Canadian Online Publishing Awards, in early 2021. Following the success of the article series, she co-authored a textbook, “Understanding Cybersecurity Law and Digital Privacy: A Common Law Perspective” which was published by Springer Nature AG Switzerland in December 2021.
During this same period of time, Melissa was invited to appear as an expert witness to testify in the Parliament of Canada; twice before the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) and once before the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights (JUST). These appearances were made during the preliminary study and consultation regarding current online privacy challenges as well as during the parliamentary review of the Criminal Code provisions which were enacted by the 2014 implementation of the PCEPA.
In mid-2022, Melissa co-authored a second six-article series, “Understanding Current Cybersecurity Challenges in Law”. Her second book, “Understanding Cybersecurity Law in Data Sovereignty and Digital Governance: An Overview from a Legal Perspective” was published in October 2022.
Melissa continues to work on a handful of research projects, covering a range of topics from cybersecurity and data privacy to legal reform and access to justice. She is an Ordained Minister with the Universal Life Church (ULC) and a member of both the County of Carleton Law Association (CCLA) and the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).
Call to the Bar
Ontario, 2023
Education
J.D., University of New Brunswick, 2022
B.A. (Linguistics), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2015
Associations
County of Carleton Law Association
International Association of Privacy Professionals
You can reach Melissa at 613-234-2500 or melissa@listerlawyers.com.
