This seminar is about a chapter in a Festschrift for Prof. Andreas Cahn. It examines whether we can expect the use of artificial intelligence in law to alter the makeup of the logical and cultural pattern in which norms and values have been and are arranged by the legal profession, the ‘fabric’ of law that people in society recognize as ‘justice’. The chapter explains that the data processing in artificial intelligence is largely based on familiar processes of statistical analysis, particularly, regression. The chapter examines the value of contributions that to date statistical analysis has made to law. The chapter then turns to an examination of human legal activity to evaluate the extent to which it could already be characterized as ‘artificial’ – using examples from the nature of professionalism, behavioral psychology and problems raised in phenomenological philosophy as points of departure.

About the Speaker: 

David C. Donald is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Law of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and an attorney practicing business and estates law in Honolulu.

David has also taught at Goethe University, National Taiwan University and China University of Political Science and Law. Prior to his academic career, David worked as a commercial lawyer in the US and Europe. His publications have focused on corporate law and securities market structure, with an emphasis on comparative law issues and new technology.

David is a graduate of Georgetown University (Law); Syracuse University (BA American Studies); University of Buffalo (PhD Comparative Literature); Goethe University (PhD and MA Law).