Partner, Lawyer, Technology and Artificial Intelligence Co-Lead
Misha Benjamin
Contact
Montreal
25th Floor1100 René-Lévesque Blvd. West
Montreal, Quebec H3B 5C9
CANADA 514 397-8500 514 397-8515 info@bcf.ca
Profile
Partner and technology and artificial intelligence (AI) co-lead at BCF, Misha Benjamin has extensive experience helping large and small organizations navigate issues related to technology, data, and Artificial Intelligence solutions.
Misha combines experience at both leading international firms and startups, addressing questions related to developing, selling, and buying complex, high-value software. He is regularly called upon to structure and negotiate technology and data transactions and address their implications for his clients. In turn, Misha also helps his clients set up the processes, infrastructure and playbooks needed to excel at scale.
In that capacity, he has over 10 years’ experience in helping to address the liability, IP, regulatory and data use issues that really matter for clients. Misha is particularly appreciated for his ability to adapt agreements and processes for his clients’ risk profile, industry, and stage of growth. He has a proven ability to set up relationships and agreements that align incentives long term.
Misha has been supporting cutting-edge AI products since 2017 and has supported successful AI deployments in a variety of sectors globally, including highly regulated sectors. He is familiar with concrete ways of mitigating risks and is comfortable operating in ambiguous legal environments where the law or commonly accepted terms are not yet developed.
As a former General Counsel, Misha can bring a cross-functional, practical, and pragmatic approach to his clients, and work with their in-house teams or management to build out templates and enablement tools to help their teams succeed independently. His experience operating in a global environment is key for clients contracting internationally.
Expertise
Industries
Education
- Barreau du Québec (2013)
- Civil and Common Law, University of Ottawa (2012)
Publications
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‘’Entre innovation numérique et transparence : les enjeux de l’intelligence artificielle pour la protection des renseignements personnels’’
Barreau du Québec, Service de la formation continue, Développements récents en matière de protection des renseignements personnels et droit de l’intelligence artificielle (2025), vol 571, Montréal (QC), Éditions Yvon Blais, 2025, 75
“On the Modification and Revocation of Open-Source”
arXiv:2407.13064, 2024
“What the draft European Union AI regulations mean for business”
Misha Benjamin, Kevin Buehler, Rachel Dooley, and Peter Zipparo, 2021
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“Towards Standardization of Data Licenses: The Montréal Data License”
Misha Benjamin, Paul Gagnon, Yoshua Bengio et al., 2019
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“Québec: A Safe Haven for Boards Under Siege?”
Pascal de Guise and Misha Benjamin, 2014
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“Increased Supervision and Psychological Harassment: How to Exercise the Right to Manage”
2012
Representative Work
- Negotiated agreements and led the establishment of a sale contracting playbook and templates for a global AI organization used by 25% of Fortune 50 companies, including clients such as Google, Microsoft, Walmart and Open AI;
- Developed ethics boundaries, guardrails and engagement approval processes for companies operating in high-risk AI environments;
- Acted as in-house counsel for the AI, Data and Analytics department of one of the most respected consulting firms worldwide, developing their IP, Data/model reuse and risk approach to new AI engagements;
- Acted as in-house counsel for an AI startup developing B2B AI tools, up to and including its acquisition by a US Fortune 100 company;
- Acted as in-house counsel for a large international video game company, focusing on software tools, middleware, and IP protection;
- Acted on behalf of Intel Corp. in its acquisition of Password Box Inc.
Conferences
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2023
AI for Legal - masterclass for in-house lawyers, Counsel well
- 2022
Data Licensing for AI, hosted by Canada's Digital Cupsercluster
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2022
Time world Artificial Intelligence, “Are lawyers and regulators too focused on AI models?”
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2019
Montréal Data License Workshop at the International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)
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2019
IP Challenges for AI Companies, Centre for International Governance
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2019
Licensing Executives Society - Data Licensing for AI and ML, Montréal
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2018
International Neuroinformatic Coordinating Facility Business Panel - Open source and open science considerations, Montréal
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2018
Licensing Executives Society International - “Artificial Intelligence: The IP Behind Disruption”, San Diego
Professional Affiliation(s)
- Barreau du Québec
Involvement
- Co-author of the Licence de données de Montréal;
- Office de la propriété intellectuelle du Canada, Canadian IP Voices: Understanding artificial intelligence (with Paul Gagnon), Podcast, 2022;
- IPIC/McGill University, summer course in intellectual property, tutor for a workshop on data licence negotiation and patent monetization.
