The blog post serves as an introduction to the volume, outlining its scope, key themes, and relevance within the ongoing debate on artificial intelligence and civil justice. It positions the Handbook as a comprehensive and timely contribution to the study of how AI is transforming civil dispute resolution across a remarkably wide range of settings, including public courts, online dispute resolution platforms, mediation, arbitration, access-to-justice tools, and systems designed to help people understand and navigate disputes before they escalate.
In presenting the volume, Prof. Giacalone highlights that the Handbook brings together a diverse set of perspectives and case studies from different jurisdictions. The book adopts a comparative approach, examining developments across multiple legal systems and reflecting reflecting a variety of institutional and normative contexts.
The blog post also emphasises the central contribution of the Handbook: moving beyond simplified and often misleading narratives of AI in justice, such as the idea of ‘robot judges’, to provide a more grounded and nuanced understanding of how AI is actually being integrated into civil justice systems. In doing so, the volume explores both the opportunities offered by AI, particularly in enhancing access to justice, and the significant challenges it raises in terms of fairness, transparency, accountability and human oversight.
By showcasing these themes, the blog post promotes the Handbook as a key reference work for academics, practitioners, and policymakers interested in the digital transformation of civil justice. It underlines the importance of interdisciplinary and comparative research in addressing the legal, ethical, and practical implications of AI in dispute resolution.
The full blog post is available on the Cambridge University Press blog:
https://cambridgeblog.org/2026/03/not-a-robot-judge-what-ai-is-really-doing-to-civil-justice/