Smarter and fairer? The future of digital justice in China

China has played a leading-role in integrating emerging technology in the courtroom. This achievement is attributed to China’s technology power, its inherent needs to improve efficiency, and the centralised, top-down reform model. Building smart court is not a standing alone movement in China but part of the judicial reform process to ensure the court to adjudicate ‘fairly and independently’, ‘to establish an impartial, efficient and authoritative’ judicial system, and to protect legitimate rights, social justice and stability. While positive cases and reviews are frequently reported on the progress of Chinese smart court project, controversial questions remain, such as how automatic decision-making works; how to balance consistency and discretion; how to protect the access to justice by disadvantaged people; how would automation improve or undermine judicial independence; how smart courts may operate in the cross-border scenario and what challenges it may bring to the traditional concept of sovereignty. In this seminar, Professor Tang will discuss the future of digital justice in China.

For online participation, please follow this link:

https://lse.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUuc-uqrz4jEtYLa0vdT3hf-n-j8Tbd7KjF

Professor Zheng Sophia Tang is a Professor at the Wuhan University School of Law and an Associate Dean at the Academy of International Law and Global Governance, a top thinktank in China. Before that she was a professor in Law and Commerce at the Newcastle University. She also taught law at the University of Leeds and the University of Aberdeen. She is a founding joint editor-in-chief of the Chinese Journal of Transnational Law, an editor of conflictoflaws.net, and a member of the advisory board of Journal of Private International Law. She is also an arbitrator at Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration, a barrister and a mediator. Professor Tang is specialised in private international law, law and technology, and Chinese law.