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Hello there 👋

name: "Colin Carter",
from: "Basel, Switzerland",
pronouns: "He/Him",
education: "Master of Law, MLaw",
university: "University of Basel"
languages: ["German", "English", "French"]

What I am doing

Designing interfaces between law and IT. Creating powerful software and web experiences. Thinking about the future of law, artificial intelligence, UX and digitalisation.

Since August 2023 I am writing my PhD thesis on the topic of autonomous legal systems in the field of criminal law at the University of Basel, and have reduced my workload as a legal engineer to do so. I am part of the Max Planck Fellow Group on Algorithmic Profiling and Automated Decision-Making in Criminal Justice.

In summary:
Webdeveloper and Lawyer = Legal Engineer.

About me

My interest in computer science has been with me since my childhood, when I built my first computer myself. After my federal Matura, it was clear to me that computer science would continue to be an inspiring field for me. So I studied physics and computer science in my first year at the University of Basel, but then realised that my heart ultimately beat more for jurisprudence and legal-technical problem solving and less for purely scientific, mathematical applications. I therefore began my studies at the Law Faculty of the University of Basel. However, it was clear to me that I wanted to incorporate my interest in computer science into my legal career. So I continued to work as a freelance web designer and web developer, educated myself with various online courses and extracurricular courses at the university and soon got a job as a web administrator at the physics department of the University of Basel for the Swiss Nanoscience Institute. Besides my studies, I ran a web agency (weblify.ch) as a full-stack developer until summer 2020.

Since 2020, I have been researching the possibilities and areas of application of A.I. in legal work. And since August 2023 I am writing my PhD thesis on the topic of autonomous legal systems in the field of criminal law at the University of Basel next to my job as a legal engineer. I am part of the Max Planck Fellow Group on Algorithmic Profiling and Automated Decision-Making in Criminal Justice.

Talks

I have given several talks on the topic of legal engineering, AI in the legal field and legal tech. Here are some of them:

Memberships

  • SLTA - Swiss Legal Teach Association (Co-Head of the Chapter Basel and Member of the Executive Board)
  • Repositorium.ch - The central professional repository for Swiss jurisprudence (board member and co-founder)
  • vukhs - Verein für Übertrittskurse im Hochschulbereich (member)
  • StreemFreerun Basel (Parkour und Freerunning Sportverein) - Co-founder, honorary member and board member.

Personal Projects

I also developed numerous personal projects, including apps and web apps, which immersed me deeply in issues of data protection law and internet law. Thus, already during my studies, I dealt with concepts such as Privacy by Design and Privacy by Default from both a theoretical and a practical point of view and combined my legal knowledge with my developer skills. I love working on personal side projects, whenever I can find time for it. Some of my bigger projects are listed below.

Repositorium

Repositorium.ch
In development

A central repository and search engine for Swiss legal publications.

Law
Web-Application
Encrypted Photos

encrypted Thoughts&Library
In development

An end-to-end encrypted photo library with embedded AI running on the client (TensorFlowJS) for automatic image classification.

Everyday use
Cryptography
Web-Application
Iusable

Iusable.ch and iusable.ai
In development

A collection of AI-applications and tools for legal work.
GitHub

Law
Web-Application
Flock

Flock
discontinued

An anonymous social network for students. Users were able to post pictures, videos and texts within a radius of 10-15km around the the selected university.

Uni-life
App (iOS & Android)
Qollect-it

Qollect-it
discontinued

An app for loyalty passes (virtual stamp cards), with which loyal customers could be rewarded and a direct communication communication channel between customers and the company.

Gastronomie
Verkauf
App (iOS & Android)