Ms Ricki-Lee Gerbrandt

Ricki-Lee is an experienced international lawyer and legal scholar. She is currently Fellow in Law & Platform Governance at University College London's Digital Speech Lab and Associate Editor of the Journal of Media Law. Her scholarly work concerns platform governance, the regulation of social media, content moderation, digital freedom & digital safety, and media freedom. She is interested in all areas of politics, philosophy and law concerning information technology and freedom of expression from domestic, comparative, and international perspectives. An experienced barrister, Ricki-Lee recently represented a global social media platform in a novel intermediary liability case, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in defamation, SLAPP-suit, and publication ban cases, and successfully represented the leading Canadian ISPs and telecoms in a constitutional challenge concerning telecommunications regulation, which won a national case impact award. She regularly provides advice to government departments, corporations, and individuals concerning information technology law and freedom of expression matters. Recent activities include delivering a keynote panel address and workshop to over 30 judges in Thailand on bad faith lawsuits at the invitation of the Clooney Foundation for Justice and the Human Rights Institute at Columbia University and presenting at UNESCO's 2026 World Press Freedom Day in Zambia. Ricki-Lee previously was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Law where she taught Tort Law, an Editor of Law Matters (published by the Canadian Bar Association National Magazine) and Summer Academic Fellow at Harvard Law School. She currently teaches Human Rights Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge. She regularly judges the University of Oxford's Price Media Law Moot Court Competition. She is also a member of the Journalist Safety Research Network at the Centre for Freedom of the Media.

Education

• Cambridge University, Faculty of Law, PhD Candidate, 2022-2026
• Harvard Law School, LL.M., 2016
• University of Calgary, J.D., 2014
• Western University (BA Hon), 2010

Teaching Experience

• Human Rights Law, St. Catherine's College & Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, 2025-Present
• Guest Lecture, Sciences Po Faculty of Law, Cyberlaw, 2025
• Workshops for the LL.M. Course 'Law, Technology & Society', University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law, 2023-2024
• Workshops for the LL.M. Course 'Information Law', University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law, 2023-2024
• Workshops for the LL.M. Course 'Private Law & Human Rights', University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law, 2023-2024
• Adjunct Instructor, Tort Law, University of Calgary, Faculty of Law, 2016-2017
• Teaching Assistant, Law & Society, University of Calgary, 2013-2014

Keynote Events

• Invited Expert Key Note Speaker, Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute and the TrialWatch Project at the Clooney Foundation for Justice, Judicial Workshop on Lawsuits Filed in Bad Faith (Bangkok, Thailand, March 2026)
• Co-Organiser, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights & Digital Speech Lab, ‘The Meaning of the Public Interest’, Media Law Workshop, June 2026

Conferences

• Speaker, UNESCO World Press Freedom Day 2026, Lusaka, Zambia (May 2026)
• Panel Speaker, The Regulation of Speech, ICON S in Dublin, Ireland (July 2026)
• Invited to roundtable, ‘The Democratic Decline and the Misuse of Law’ at the Centre for Freedom of the Media (Sheffield, July 2026)
• Chair & Host, Book launch for Natalie Alkiviadou, ‘Hate Speech and the European Court of Human Rights’ (UCL, Digital Speech Lab, Feb 2026) (with Jeffrey Howard, Eric Heinze, Gavin Phillipson and Joan Baratta)
• ‘ECHR’s Positive State Obligations to Protect the Fourth Estate in the Digital Era’ Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge (Cambridge, UK, Feb 2026)
• Invited, ‘Panel on Children’s Online Safety: UK and US perspectives’, UCL Faculty of Law (London, UK, Oct 2025)
• Trust & Safety Research Conference, 'Should social media companies permit violating content that is "newsworthy"?', Stanford Cyber Policy Center (Stanford, California, Sept 2025)
• Society of Legal Scholars, Panel on the Online Safety Act & Digital Services Act (with Andrew Kenyon, Helen Fenwick & Peter Coe), University of Leeds (Leeds, UK, Sept 2025)
• University College London, Faculty of Law, Workshop on the Online Safety Act (London, UK, June 12, 2025)
• London School of Economics & Political Science (London, UK June 10, 2025), Symposium on the Future of SLAPPs Research
• University of Sussex, Centre for Law & Technology, Seminar on the Online Safety Act (Brighton, UK, June 6, 2025)
• Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford, Conference ‘Democracy, Law & Independent Journalism’, panel speaker on ‘The Populist Playbook and Attacks on Press Freedom’ (Oxford, UK, June 2-3, 2023)
• Digital Constitutionalism Academy, AI Regulation, Democracy & Digital Sovereignty (Florence, Italy, March 2025), Presenting on the ‘democracy’ Panel: ‘Should there be positive protections for high-value speech in the digital era?’
• University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law, Research & Development Symposium, ‘Safe & Secure Journalism’ (March 2025)
• University College London, Political Philosophy Symposium, ‘Safe & Secure Journalism’ (Feb 2026)
• University College London, Department of Political Science, Workshop on ‘New Ideas in Legal and Political Philosophy’, presenting ‘Safety and Security as Media Freedom’ (Nov 2024)
• Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield, Workshop, Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation’, presenting on Anti-SLAPP litigation in Canada (Nov 2024)
• Sciences-Po Law School, Young Digital Law Conference ‘Conflicts and Communities in Digital Law’ (Paris, France, June 2024), Paper accepted into the panel track, ‘Media Freedom & Journalist Safety in the UK Online Safety Act’
• International Society of Public Law ICON S Conference, IE Law School, (Madrid, Spain, July 2024), Panel Accepted, ‘Regulating content moderation of extreme and AI-generated speech on social media platforms: comparing and evaluating recent developments across Europe, the EU and the US’
• Centre for Public Law, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law (Cambridge, UK June 2024) ‘Privileging and exempting press publishers and journalism in the regulation of social media’
• University of Valencia, Faculty of Law, Programme in European Private Law (Valencia, Spain, June 2024), ‘Media Freedom & Journalist Safety in the UK Online Safety’
• European Human Rights Law Conference, Conference Assistant & Chair of Panel on Freedom of Expression, (Cambridge, UK, September 2023)
• Conference Presentation, Journalist Research Safety Research Network, Symposium on Weaponization of the Law, ‘Online Abuse of Journalists as a Media Freedom Interest in the Online Safety Bill’ (June 2023)
• Conference Presentation, Cambridge Law Faculty, ‘Online Abuse of Journalists in the Online Safety Bill’ (May 2023)
• Presentation to Western Canadian Industries, ‘Defamation in the Business World’ (Calgary, May 2019)
• Conference Presentation, ‘Defamation and the Rise of Online Journalism in Canada’, Canadian Law & Society Association Conference (Vancouver, BC, June 2013)

Workshops

• University of College London, Political Philosophy Symposium, presenting 'Safe and Secure Journalism' (Feb 2026)
• University College London, Department of Political Science, Workshop on ‘New Ideas in Legal and Political Philosophy’, presenting ‘Safety and Security as Media Freedom’, 2024
• Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield, Workshop, Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation’, presenting on Anti-SLAPP litigation in Canada, 2024
• Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield, ‘Threats to Journalism in the UK’, 2023
• Workshop, Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy, Ideas on UN Global Digital Compact, Lauterpacht Centre, University of Cambridge, 2023

Public Policy & Media

• Provided Case Comment to Meta’s Oversight Board on ‘Cases Concerning Posts on Southport Riots’ Digital Speech Lab (with Jeffrey Howard and Maxime Lepoutre), 2024
• Provided Case Comment to Meta’s Oversight Board on ‘Cases Concerning the Assassination of Candidate Running for Mayor in Mexico’ Digital Speech Lab (with Jeffrey Howard and Tena Thau) 2024, which was cited by the Oversight Board in its Decision
• Provided submissions to the Information Commissioner’s Office (UK) concerning the Draft Journalism Code pursuant to the Data Protection Act, 2018 (Nov 2022)
• CBC Radio, interviewed on live radio by CBC about the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard defamation trial

Project Management & Editorial Experience

• Executive Director, Cambridge Pro Bono Project, 2023-2024. Projects for: the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; a South American Constitutional Court; Doughty Street Chambers; Client Earth
• Project Manager, Cambridge Pro Bono Project, 2022-2023 ‘The uptake of European Court of Human Rights decisions in domestic jurisdictions regarding climate protest’
• Editorial Board, Law Matters, Canadian Bar Association National Magazine, 2019-2022
• Senior Editor, Harvard National Security Law Journal, 2015-2016

Fellowships & Research Assistance

• Research Assistant, Professor Mark Tushnet, 2015- 2016, Research on comparative freedom of expression
• Harvard Law Summer Academic Fellow, 2016, Research on Journalistic Source Privilege