Artificial Intelligence and Scots Law: Transforming the Future

This RSE supported project is led by Dr Lorna Gillies, University of Dundee with collaboration from Dr Michiel Poesen, University of Aberdeen, and with colleagues from the Universities of Dundee, Edinburgh Napier, Strathclyde and Stirling together with Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly used by businesses, organisations and markets to deliver goods and services to consumers more efficiently. Artificial Intelligence (AI) comprises narrow AI such as Large Language Models (LLMs), general AI being equivalent to human thinking and reasoning, and super AI which may in future supersede human thinking and reasoning. As society has become rapidly aware of AI's existence, the benefits and challenges of AI are beginning to emerge. AI may enable automated decisions, goods, services and medical diagnostics. However, the use of AI raises concerns about data protection and privacy, employment rights, consumer protection, equality, fundamental fairness and human rights. AI disrupts law and in response various jurisdictions have begun to review how current legal rules can apply, and what forms of transformational change of laws are necessary. These different AI forms have generated global, EU and national attention. Law makers seek to identify the benefits and risks of AI and how best to respond. In that context, existing laws must be considered to assess the extent to which they can apply or must transform to accommodate the benefits and risks inherent in the use, or misuse, of AI.

To what extent does Scots private law address the benefits and challenges of AI in society? The project focusses on different areas of Scots private law, namely contract and agency, property, delict, private international law and human rights and engages with a range of researchers and stakeholders. The objectives of the project will be to collate published papers from the Workshops as an open access resource.

Project Leads

The project is led by Dr Lorna Gillies, University of Dundee in conjunction with esteemed colleagues from academia and practice in Scotland. Dr Gillies has overall management of the project and has expertise in private international law and an interest in the private law aspects of AI. Her current work is focussed on a theory of modified pragmatism to critique party autonomy and choice of law in advancing new ways of thinking about human agency, territorial jurisdiction of disputes and enforcement of rights in new digital spaces including digital assets and AI.

The project co-investigator is Dr Michiel Poesen, University of Aberdeen. Dr Poesen has expertise in private international law. His current work focuses on the intersection between the governance of Artificial Intelligence and private international law, and the role of private international law in transnational corporate accountability for human rights infringements.

Michiel Poesen is a Lecturer in Private International Law at the University of Aberdeen. His current work focuses on the intersection between private international law and the governance of artificial intelligence, and the role of private international law in transnational corporate accountability for human rights infringements.

Michiel started taking an interest in the private international law dimension of AI in 2021, when he was awarded a Research Fellowship by the Stanford Existential Risk Initiative to work on a project which explored the relevance of private international law in regulating AI. He is currently writing the entry on AI for the 2nd edition of the Encyclopedia of Private International Law.

Michiel has published extensively on various topics relating to the regional and international harmonisation of private international law and has worked on an array of projects relating to the reform of private international law in the European Union.

His doctoral work on the scope of jurisdiction in matters relating to a contract in the Brussels Ia Regulation was cited by Advocate General Szpunar in ECJ Case C-265/21 AB, AB-CD v Z EF. Further, Michiel's work was cited in i.a. the 2022 edition of Dicey, Morris & Collins on the Conflict of Laws.

Project Collaborators

Dr Craig Anderson, University of Stirling

Dr Craig Anderson is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Stirling, which he joined in January 2024 having previously held posts at Edinburgh Napier and Robert Gordon Universities. His main research interests are in the field of Scots private law, particularly property law, viewed in a comparative and historical context. Central to his research is the view that Scots law has much to learn from an exploration of its diverse historical influences and of how those historical influences have affected related legal systems, particularly Scotland’s fellow mixed jurisdictions such as South Africa, Louisiana and Quebec. 

He has a particular interest in the law of possession, and his PhD thesis in this area was published in the series Studies in Scots Law as Possession of Corporeal Moveables (Edinburgh Legal Education Trust 2015). His other books include Property: A Guide to Scots Law (W Green 2016), Roman Law for Scots Law Students (Edinburgh University Press 2021) and the co-authored McAllister’s Scottish Law of Leases 5th edn (Bloomsbury Professional 2021). He is also a contributor to Gloag & Henderson’s The Law of Scotland 15th edn (W Green 2022), volume 2 of Gordon & Wortley’s Scottish Land Law 3rd edn (W Green 2020) and the forthcoming second edition of Reid’s Law of Property in Scotland.

Lynn Beaumont, Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP

Lynn Beaumont is Head of Knowledge and Service Delivery at Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP. Lynn has an LLB (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh and is a qualified solicitor.  She was previously a corporate lawyer and Partner before moving into her current role.  She has overall responsibility for client service delivery at Shepherd and Wedderburn.  She is joint head of the firm’s Smarter Working team, working across the firm and directly with clients to improve efficiency, understand clients’ needs, provide solutions, enhance service delivery and drive innovation.

She works with the firm’s divisions, practice and sector groups to ensure they have the knowledge, legal training, skills, technology and processes needed to deliver a cost-effective, high-quality service to clients.

Lynn is also co-chair of the firm's AI and Emerging Technology Group.

Professor Angela Day, University of Dundee

Angela Daly is Professor of Law & Technology at the University of Dundee with a joint appointment between the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science and Dundee Law School. She is a socio-legal scholar of the regulation and governance of digital technologies and data, including AI. She works across a range of areas of law, including intellectual property, data protection, human rights, competition and sector-specific regulation. In recent years, she has advised the Scottish Government, UK Government and European Commission on matters related to her research. 

Steve Dalgleish, Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP

Steve Dalgleish is Head of Technology at Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP. As Head of Technology, Steve is responsible for evaluating and implementing value-adding technology solutions. In 2020, he became the first non-lawyer to be accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a legal technology specialist.  Working firm-wide, Steve ensures existing technology is used to deliver maximum benefit and manages technology-related knowledge sharing to ensure teams are effectively communicating our broad range of value-add solutions to clients.  Steve has led on a broad range of firm-wide technology projects and client-facing applications and solutions that support core internal process, including the implementation and rollout of client reporting apps, machine learning tools, and workflow tools to simplify and standardise processes across both the business and practice of law.

He is joint head of the firm’s Smarter Working team, working across the firm and directly with clients to improve efficiency, understand clients’ needs, provide solutions, enhance service delivery and drive innovation.

Steve is also co-chair of the firm's AI and Emerging Technology Group.

Professor Guido Noto La Diega, University of Strathclyde

Guido Noto La Diega (they/he) is Professor of Law, Technology and Innovation at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, where they lead the LLM/MSc Law, Technology and Innovation, as well as the namesake research cluster.  Sicily-born and naturalised Scottish, Professor Noto La Diega is a leading expert in EU, UK, and Italian law and technology. A prolific scholar and an award-winning teacher, they are the author or editor of three books and more than 50 law review articles, book chapters, and reports.  Noto La Diega is the UK Principal Investigator of the AHRC-DFG-funded project “From Smart Technology to Smart Consumer Law” and previously co-founded and led the Just AI Lab, the Scottish Law and Innovation Network, and the Northumbria Internet & Society Research Group. A member of a number of learned societies, Noto La Diega currently serves on the Research Grants Committee of the Society of Legal Scholars and has previously served on the European Commission’s Expert Group on AI in Education.

Professor Noto La Diega has spoken at events organised by policymakers (World Trade Organization, UK Intellectual Property Office, etc.), professional bodies (European Trade Union Institute, Faculty of Advocates, etc.) and leading research institutions (University of Cambridge, University of Tokyo, etc.).  Noto La Diega’s lectures and presentations have spanned over 30 countries on five continents.  A frequent commentator in the national and international media, their publications have appeared in English and Italian, and translated into Chinese, Russian, and Korean; they have been cited by the EU Court of Justice's Advocate General, the House of Lords, the UK Intellectual Property Office, the World Economic Forum, the European Parliament, and the Council of Europe, amongst others.

Dr Cody Rei-Anderson, Edinburgh Napier University

Cody Rei-Anderson is Lecturer in Law and Technology at Edinburgh Napier University. He received his JD and LLM from the University of British Columbia in Canada, and his PhD from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. His research interests include copyright law, platform regulation, and technology as a mode of regulation or governance. 

His PhD dissertation focused on an analysis of copyright law as a legal mechanism for the commodification of creative labour in digital media contexts. He is currently working on adapting this work into a book which will also explore the implications of generative artificial intelligence for human creativity by situating copyright conflicts over these new technologies in the longer history of copyright law's role in the evolution of digital media economies.

Dr Patricia Zivkovic, University of Aberdeen

Dr Patricia Živković is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Aberdeen. Before joining the University of Aberdeen, she served as Head of Legal at an IT company and worked as counsel at a law firm. Her research focuses on international dispute resolution and the intersection of technology and law. Dr Živković coordinates and teaches courses on international commercial arbitration, negotiation skills, biometric data and profiling regulation, and law and artificial intelligence (AI). She is co-leading the interdisciplinary project Death and Law – Interdisciplinary Explorations and is the Convenor of the Humanity and AI Research Group.

Together with her colleague Dr Michiel Poesen, Dr Živković is a Co-Convenor of the Private International Law Section of the Society for Legal Scholars. She is also Co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Commerce and Contracting, a member of the Committee of the Northern Chapter of the Scottish Branch of the CIArb, and a member of the Scottish Universities Dispute Resolution Network and the Scottish Law and Innovation Network (SCOTLIN).

Her research in dispute resolution focuses on costs and applicable substantive law in international commercial arbitration, and the digitalisation of dispute resolution processes. Her interests in technology and law include the regulation of biometric data, neurotechnology, and artificial intelligence (AI). Her current research explores post-mortem digital versioning (digital avatars) as part of a broader project on redefining identity in the digital age.