Dr Lorna Gillies

I am a pragmatist and comparative private international law and legal technology scholar. My methodological approach is policy and pragmatism. I am currently focussed on two distinct, but related, research areas in private international law: 

1. Vulnerability and private international law: I have developed a pragmatic theory to vulnerability in private international law based on asymmetric substantive equality. I draw on Fineman (Emory) and Fredman (Oxford) and use pragmatism and comparative methodologies to consider vulnerability in different cross-border relationships.
2. Technology, jurisdiction and enforcement of rights in new digital spaces, between parties across borders:  
   1. I have developed 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. I draw on Murray (LSE), Michaels (Max Plank) and Whincop, Keyes, Posner, and use comparative methodology; 
   2. In 2023-24 I contributed to an RSE funded 'Digital Assets in Scots Private Law' Project (2023-2024) led by the University of Aberdeen. As part of that project, I have proposed adaptation of Scottish rules of jurisdiction for disputes concerned with digital assets; 
   3. I am the Principal Researcher of an RSE Research Collaboration Grant 2024-2026 on "AI and Scots Law: Transforming the Future." The aim of the project is to consider the implications of AI for Scots Law, in collaboration with the University of Aberdeen and academics from Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh Napier, Stirling, Strathclyde Universities, and legal practitioners from Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP; 
   4. In March 2026, I gave an invited presentation to the Judicial Institute for Scotland on the "Risks and Challenges of AI for the Judiciary."