Christopher N. Alam

About Christopher N. Alam

Loans, and the security that stands behind them, are the heart of Christopher N. Alam's practice as a Toronto partner at Gowling WLG. On one side of the table Christopher represents lenders, including banks and other large financial institutions; on the other, borrowers. The facilities range from asset-based loans to term and revolving credit and the money behind public and private acquisitions, secured or unsecured, in Canada and across the border. Aviation and real estate financings for borrowers come up regularly too.

Artificial intelligence is the other thread running through Christopher's work. At Gowling WLG, Christopher shares leadership of a national sub-group focused on AI technology, and away from client files runs JurisAI, a personal blog about how the law ought to regulate AI. Ideas worked through there include keeping human intervention paramount and the plain advice to regulate optimistically. Posts in 2020 looked at a NIST paper on explainable AI and at an OSFI discussion paper on resilience in Canada's financial sector.

Christopher was called to the Ontario bar in 1998. Inside the firm, past roles include head of the Toronto office's Real Estate and Financial Services Group and leader of the national Lending Group. Christopher also sits on the Legal Opinions Committee.

Christopher speaks regularly about secured lending and edits Gowling WLG's U.S. newsletter. In 2000 and 2001, Christopher co-edited the newsletter of the Canadian Bar Association's Insolvency Section.