Martin Lapner

About Martin Lapner

Martin Lapner is a health law and privacy partner in Gowling WLG's Ottawa office. Physicians and the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) have Lapner as their counsel, and a wide mix of healthcare organizations get privacy and regulatory advice from the same desk. Day to day, the work centres on professional regulatory and civil liability matters, with data governance and AI regulation also part of it.

Lapner earned a commerce degree with honours at the University of Ottawa, then a JD from the University of Toronto, and was called to the Ontario bar in 2008. In early 2016, Gowlings (shortly before it took the Gowling WLG name) named Lapner one of three new partners in Ottawa, at the time with a medical defence practice.

Away from client files, there's a real scholarly streak. Lapner edits the Electronic Healthcare Law Review, published by LexisNexis Canada, writes often on new questions in health and privacy law (what AI means legally among them), and co-teaches an LLM course at Osgoode Hall Law School on information technology and privacy in health law.

Doctors also hear from Lapner directly. Speaking invitations on medico-legal questions where technology meets healthcare come often, including CMPA webinars on AI, virtual care and social media advocacy. In the AI session, Lapner explained that privacy law is technology neutral, so it already covers AI tools, even though what it requires of them isn't fully settled yet.