Global Tax Seminar Series – “Superjustice: Law in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”

The mission of the Global Tax Seminar Series (GTSS) is to provide a regular and convivial forum for the presentation and discussion of new academic tax law, policy, and theory research by colleagues from all continents. The seminars are run in person and online as a Zoom webinar, with 25—to 30-minute paper presentations followed by comments from a distinguished panel of discussants and then ample time for questions and discussion.

On Wednesday 28 October 2026, Benjamin Alarie (University of Toronto) and Samuel I. Becher (City University of Hong Kong) will present on the following topic: “Superjustice: Law in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”.

Book abstract: Legal systems across jurisdictions are struggling to meet the demands placed on them: courts are congested, legal assistance lies beyond the reach of billions of people, and rules designed for a pre-digital world adapt poorly to contemporary life. The book argues that artificial intelligence will not close that gap on its own, and that layering new technology onto existing institutions is not enough. It proposes instead that legal systems be redesigned around what the authors call Superjustice: law understood as dynamic, personalised and participatory infrastructure oriented towards human flourishing.

The argument proceeds in three steps. The book first identifies a set of structural failures in existing legal systems. It then examines how AI might enable faster decisions, individually tailored rules, wider public participation, hybrid and decentralised forms of governance, and legal expertise available beyond those able to pay for it. Finally, it confronts the attendant risks, among them bias, hallucination, algorithmic opacity, surveillance, inequality, institutional resistance, and the prospect of automating injustice at scale.

To assess candidate reforms, the authors advance the CRISPR-J framework—cost-effective, rapid, inclusive, smart, predictive and resilient justice—together with a matrix for analysing the technical, human, governance and societal dimensions of legal transformation. The book is published by Oxford University Press (2026).

Discussants: Alice Pirlot (Geneva Graduate Institute), Emmanuel Voyiakis (LSE), Federico Picinali (LSE), Neli Frost (LSE), Siva Thambisetty (LSE).

To sign up for the mailing list, please visit: https://www.lse.ac.uk/law/secure/taxation-signup.

For further information, please contact Eduardo Baistrocchi, Associate Professor of Law, at e.a.baistrocchi@lse.ac.uk.

This seminar is open to the public and will operate on a first-come, first-served basis.

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