Lexie Gao
Ph.D. Researcher in International Arbitration |
AI & Dispute Resolution | Due Process & Procedural Legitimacy
Lexie Gao is a doctoral researcher at Durham Law School exploring how AI and emerging technologies are reshaping international arbitration, due process and the foundations of trust in dispute resolution.
SCROLL TO EXPLORE ↓About Lexie
Lexie Gao is a Ph.D. researcher at Durham Law School working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and international arbitration. Her doctoral research examines the reform of due process in AI-enabled international arbitration, with particular attention to the changing relationship between technological innovation, procedural legitimacy and institutional trust.
Her research combines doctrinal and comparative legal analysis with qualitative empirical methods. As part of her doctoral project, Lexie has conducted interviews with international arbitrators, counsel, arbitral institution representatives and legal technology leaders to examine how technological change is being understood and experienced across the arbitration community.
Read Full Biography
Lexie’s wider research spans China-related arbitration, the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards, cybersecurity, arbitrator impartiality and the institutional development of international dispute resolution.
She previously served as a Visiting Professional at the SCC Arbitration Institute, where her work included arbitration research, case-related analysis and China-related legal and institutional matters.
Her research has appeared in publications including Asian Dispute Review and the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, as well as in scholarship examining cybersecurity and legitimacy in international arbitration.
In 2026, her article “Regulating AI in International Arbitration under Luhmann’s Theory of Trust” was published in Asian Dispute Review after winning the HK45 Essay Competition.
At the intersection of technology, justice and trust
Lexie’s work explores a question increasingly central to the future of dispute resolution: as technology changes how disputes are managed and decided, what must legal systems preserve in order to remain legitimate?
Her research looks beyond AI as a tool for efficiency or automation to examine its deeper implications for procedural fairness, human judgment and institutional trust.
Rather than treating technology and due process as opposing forces, her work asks which values traditional procedures are designed to protect — and how those values can be realised as technological and social expectations evolve.
Areas of Focus
Moderator at ArbTech.io
Lexie serves as a Moderator at ArbTech.io, contributing to the platform’s interdisciplinary dialogue on technology, dispute resolution and the future of justice.
Her involvement with the ArbTech community began in 2025, when ArbTech supported her attendance at the AAA-ICDR Future Dispute Resolution Conference in The Hague.
She subsequently wrote for ArbTech about the conference in “Embracing AI in Practice: The 2025 AAA-ICDR’s Future Dispute Resolution Conference,” exploring themes closely connected to her doctoral research on AI-enabled arbitration.
Through ArbTech, Lexie contributes an academic and empirical perspective to conversations spanning legal practice, technological development and the evolving demands placed on systems of justice.
Recognition & Contributions
HK45 Essay Competition
Winner of the HK45 Essay Competition for “Regulating AI in International Arbitration under Luhmann’s Theory of Trust,” published in Asian Dispute Review in 2026.
SCC Arbitration Institute
Former Visiting Professional at the SCC Arbitration Institute, contributing to arbitration research, case-related analysis and China-related legal and institutional matters.
Doctoral Research
Ph.D. researcher at Durham Law School examining due process reform in AI-enabled international arbitration through doctrinal, comparative and qualitative empirical research.
FAQ
What is Lexie Gao’s research about?
Lexie’s doctoral research examines how due process should evolve as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into international arbitration. Her work focuses particularly on procedural legitimacy, institutional trust, human judgment and the relationship between technological innovation and established legal safeguards.
What is Lexie Gao’s role at ArbTech.io?
Lexie is a Moderator at ArbTech.io. She contributes to ArbTech’s interdisciplinary dialogue around AI, legal technology, arbitration and the future of dispute resolution.
What topics does Lexie write about?
Her work spans AI in international arbitration, due process and procedural fairness, institutional trust, China-related arbitration, cybersecurity, arbitrator impartiality, recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards and emerging approaches to technology-enabled dispute resolution.
How does Lexie research AI and international arbitration?
Her doctoral project combines doctrinal and comparative legal research with qualitative empirical methods. She has interviewed arbitrators, counsel, arbitral institution representatives and legal technology leaders to understand how technological change is being experienced across the international arbitration community.
What is Lexie’s perspective on technology and dispute resolution?
Lexie’s work considers technology not simply as a means of making dispute resolution faster or more efficient, but as a force that is challenging legal institutions to reconsider what fairness, legitimacy and trust mean in technologically mediated systems of justice.
Featured Thinking
Technology, Justice and the Social Foundations of Dispute Resolution
“Technology cannot supply justice on its own. Its deeper significance lies in forcing dispute resolution systems to confront the social foundations of their legitimacy.”
AI and advanced technologies are reshaping dispute resolution far beyond questions of efficiency, automation and procedural innovation. Their deeper impact lies in accelerating a fundamental reassessment of what societies expect systems of justice to deliver.
Legal procedure provides an institutional framework through which justice is organised and legitimised. Yet the authority of dispute resolution depends on more than procedure alone. It also rests on confidence in decision-makers, institutional credibility, accessibility, timeliness and the willingness of parties and wider society to accept outcomes.
Technology is exposing tensions within this architecture.
AI-assisted decision-making, automated analysis and technologically mediated procedures challenge established assumptions about due process, professional expertise and human judgment. At the same time, these developments can reveal where established procedural forms have become detached from the purposes they were originally designed to serve.
The central question is therefore not simply whether technology should enter dispute resolution, but which values traditional procedures protect and how those values should be realised under changing technological and social conditions.
Technology may accelerate the evolution of dispute resolution by forcing institutions to define more clearly the relationship between procedural fairness and social expectations, human judgment and technological assistance, and legal authority and social trust.
The future of arbitration will depend on how legal rules, institutional design, professional judgment and technological systems operate within this wider architecture of trust.
Technology cannot supply justice on its own. Its deeper significance lies in forcing dispute resolution systems to confront the social foundations of their legitimacy.
Featured Publications
Regulating AI in International Arbitration under Luhmann’s Theory of Trust
Winner of the HK45 Essay Competition, examining the regulation of artificial intelligence in international arbitration through the lens of trust and legitimacy.
Cybersecurity in International Arbitration — A Legitimacy Crisis?
Published in Law and Practice of International Arbitration: Essays in Honor of John Fellas, Juris Legal Information.
The Neutral in the Machine? Emerging Designs of Dispute Assessment in Arbitration
An exploration of emerging technology-enabled approaches to dispute assessment and their implications for arbitration.
The Politicised Tribunal? Arbitrator Challenges on Grounds of Political Opinion
An examination of arbitrator challenges arising from political opinion and their implications for impartiality and legitimacy.
SCC Awards in China: A Remarkable Record of Recognition and Enforcement
An analysis of the recognition and enforcement of SCC arbitral awards in China and the relationship between international arbitration and the Chinese legal system.
