About Kris Klein
Kris Klein has more than a decade of experience in the federal regulatory arena, which he gained in both the public and private sectors in Canada. He is also one of the country’s leading experts on the application of the Access to Information Act, the Privacy Act, and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
Kris practiced law with McCarthy Tétrault, a preeminent, national firm delivering legal services at the highest levels for national and international clients. He also has a significant amount of litigation experience, working for the Federal Department of Justice, and he has also provided instrumental legal advice for the Privy Council Office.
More recently, Kris practiced exclusively in the area of privacy law for the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. In his capacity as litigation counsel, Kris advised the Commissioner and senior officials on legal, policy and strategic positions available in privacy matters, including the handling of high-profile and sensitive cases. In addition, he interacted, negotiated and settled complaints with private sector organizations facing complaints about privacy issues. Kris also represented the Commissioner and her office publicly, as a conference speaker, before Parliamentary committee and in interviews with the media.
Kris has broad public and private sector experience, working on projects that have required understanding, negotiating and monitoring technical compliance with privacy and security issues. He has a demonstrated understanding of technology, theories of anonymity (de-identification of data), authentication systems, health privacy issues, etc.
He has written extensively on the subject, including co-authoring several instrumental works. Moreover, Kris teaches the Privacy Law course at Ottawa University's Law School, serves on the IAPP Canadian Certification Advisory Board and he has provided countless in-house training sessions to corporations and government departments. He is an entertaining speaker that engages the audience and provides practical advice to real-world problems.
Kris is native to Ottawa and studied in a specialized Geographic Information Systems program at Carleton University before attending law school. He is active within his community and serves on the Board of Directors of Bronson Centre, the Board of Directors of the Canadian Lacrosse Foundation, and coaches minor hockey and soccer.
