Call for Papers:The Emergence of Computational Legal Studies @ HKU (June 28–29, 2018)

Call for Papers: The Emergence of Computational Legal Studies @ HKU

June 28 & 29, 2018, the University of Hong Kong

OVERVIEW:

     In recent decades, technology has had a profound influence on the practice of law, and the legal education landscape. Meanwhile, it has also begun to transform the way that scholars perform empirical legal research. Improved access to data, increased computational power, and the development of new analytic techniques have led to the emergence of a body of work that some refer to as “Computational Legal Studies.”

     Much of the scholarly discourse surrounding “Law and Technology” has focused on either the doctrinal issues raised by technological developments, or the impact of legal technologies on the practice of the law. Meanwhile, comparatively little attention has been paid to Computational Legal Studies as such.

     The Department of Law at the University of Hong Kong, in conjunction with the University’s Law & Technology Centre, is excited to provide a venue for computational legal scholars to come together and discuss the promises and challenges facing this emerging body of research.

FORMAT: 
     We seek papers or presentations broadly related to Computational Legal Studies. Our definition of Computational Legal Studies is expansive, including:

• Research that applies computational data processing or analytic methods to questions of interest to legal scholars
• Work that explores computational legal studies as a sub-discipline
• Methodological work that develops or assess computational methods of interest to legal scholars

We are interested in hearing from scholars using any-and-all computational methods including: machine learning, natural language processing, large-data set analysis, network analysis, computer simulation and modeling, computational data collection, etc.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT:

     Some financial assistance may be available to partially offset travel costs.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:

     To submit work, or inquire about the workshop please contact Ryan Whalen at whalen@hku.hk. 

     Submissions can include drafts of papers or extended abstracts (~500 words) about research projects you would like to undertake and present at the workshop. Submissions should be received by February 28, 2018. 

REWARD:

     Papers from the workshop will be made available in an edited volume.