Katie Marie Atkinson is a professor of computer science and the

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean Sw ...

of the School of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Computer Science at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

. She works on researching and building

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

tools to help judges and

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

s. Atkinson previously served as the President of the International Association for AI and Law.

Education and early life

Atkinson received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Computer Information Systems, both from the

Career and research

Atkinson joined the faculty at the

after completing her Ph.D. in 2005. She studies computational models of argument, focusing on argumentation in practical reasoning and how it can be applied in legal domains. She has published over one hundred articles in peer-reviewed conferences and journals, especially within the fields of AI and law. Her recent projects have concerned the development of legal reasoning AI technologies for the UK law firm

Weightmans Weightmans is a top 40 UK law firm with nine offices, employing more than 1,400 people, including more than 225 partners. The firm offers a range of legal services to public organisations, private companies and individuals. In the financial year ...

, for which she and

Trevor Bench-Capon Trevor Bench-Capon (born 1953, died 20th May 2024) was a British computer scientist and an Honorary Visiting Professor of computer science at the University of Liverpool, where he taught from 1987 until his retirement in 2012. He is the author o ...

won the Best Use of Technology award at the 2019 Modern Law Awards, and the development of tools to support e-democracy and legal knowledge-based systems. An AI algorithm she developed to judge legal cases had a 96% success rate in judging 32 cases. She said that the technique could become a useful decision support tool to help make judges reasoning “faster, more efficient and consistent”. Atkinson was Program Chair of the fifteenth edition of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law. From 2014 to 2015 she served as the Vice President of the International Association for Artificial Intelligence and Law, before becoming president in 2016–17. In 2019, Atkinson was named one of ten members of an expert advisory group to advise the senior judges of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

on developments in AI. The advisory group consisted of prominent legal technology experts and judges, including

Richard Susskind Richard Eric Susskind (born 28 March 1961) is a British author, speaker, and independent adviser to international professional firms and national governments. He is the IT adviser to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, holds professo ...

Sir Geoffrey Vos Sir Geoffrey Charles Vos (born 22 April 1955) is a judge in England and Wales. Since January 2021, he has held the positions of Master of the Rolls and the Head of Civil Justice in England and Wales. Early life and education Geoffrey Charles ...

, and Kay Firth-Butterfield.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Katie Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of the University of Liverpool Academics of the University of Liverpool British women computer scientists