By Hannah Simonetta
Since March 2025, Julia Jiayang Yu, Cornell Tech LL.M. ’24, has been serving as counsel to the Gallant Commission in Canada, which is investigating the failed digital transformation of Québec’s automobile agency—a high-profile public project whose collapse has drawn national attention. The appointment reflects Yu’s commitment to public service and the specialized expertise she developed in Cornell Law School’s Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship program at Cornell Tech.
The Gallant Commission was convened after Québec’s enterprise resource planning system for the automobile agency went live in February 2023 and failed, prompting a four-week suspension of public services. Auditor general warnings about implementation failures and rising costs led the government to form the inquiry to establish accountability and recommend reforms.
Yu’s role centers on reviewing technology and private contracts, advising on procurement law, and providing analysis for hearings and the final report. “What I’m doing is actively contributing to shaping public policy around tech government procurement,” Yu said. “I was a fully private lawyer who ended up working for the government during what’s considered to be the ‘biggest tech debacle in North America,’ entirely because I went through the master’s degree program at Cornell Tech.”
Yu discovered her passion for law early, shaped by Québec’s distinctive legal education system. Having gone to school in Montreal, she was first introduced to law around age nineteen. That experience, combined with volunteer work she had done since high school and her long-standing interest in public interest issues, set her on a clear legal career path.
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