Richard Pfohl

Richard Pfohl is General Counsel to the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), the voice and guardian of the record industry in Canada. CRIA's membership is comprised of the major record companies, leading independent labels, and manufacturers of CDs and tapes, representing in total 95% of all records manufactured and sold in Canada. Richard represents the interests of the Canadian recording industry in Canada and internationally on legal and copyright issues, negotiates industry agreements, and coordinates industry antipiracy efforts. He also serves as general counsel to the industry's licensing agency, the AVLA Audio-Video Licensing Agency Inc. (AVLA), which administers licensing in Canada for owners of master audio and music video recordings on behalf of more than 200 Canadian-based record producers.

Richard is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Toronto Law School, where he he has taught courses in information technology and electronic commerce law, and he is a frequent speaker and lecturer on copyright and Internet issues.

Richard draws on experience from close to 20 years working in Toronto, on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. and with several respected Washington-based law firms. Prior to joining CRIA in 2003, Richard was a partner in the Technology and Intellectual Property groups of the Toronto offices of the law firm of McCarthy TÈtrault. Richard previously served as Counsel to US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Technology, and to Senator Dianne Feinstein. Prior to that, he practiced at the Washington D.C. firm of Wiley, Rein & Fielding, where he helped establish the firmís Internet and electronic commerce law practice.

Richard obtained his law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was Executive Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, and his BA from Princeton University. He is a member of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC), the International Literary and Artistic Association (ALAI), the Computer Law Association, and the Canadian IT Law Association (IT.Can). Richard is called to the Ontario, Washington D.C. and Maryland bars.