Staff profile

Zhiyu Li holds undergraduate degrees in law and economics from the East China University of Political Science and Law. She has received an LLM from the University of Wisconsin Law School and a JSD from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the law faculty, she was a Hauser Global Postdoctoral Fellow at New York University School of Law.

Zhiyu's teaching and research focus on constitutional law, technology law and comparative law. She primarily writes about the role of the judiciary and the interplay between law, technology and politics in modern societies. Her research employs both qualitative methods, including doctrinal analysis, case studies and interviews, and quantitative approaches, such as surveys, survey experiments and machine learning techniques. Her work has been published in internationally recognised journals, including the Harvard International Law Journal, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law and Artificial Intelligence and Law. She has also presented her research at academic conferences in the UK and internationally, including the Annual Conference of the Society of Legal Scholars and the Stanford International Junior Faculty Forum.

Zhiyu has held visiting positions at Boston College, the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin and the National University of Singapore. She has also delivered guest lectures on law and technology at universities and research institutions in Belgium, Italy, Poland, Germany and the United States.

• Constitutional Law
• Judicial Politics
• Law and Technology
• Algorithmic Justice
• Chinese Law and Society

• 2025: Cited in the New York Times: see The Frightening Precedents for Trump’s ‘Legal Abyss’: The ‘Dual-State Theory’ Explains How Authoritarians Bend the Law to Their Will (3 May 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/world/trump-dual-state.html.
• 2024: Quoted in Boston College Law School Magazine Online: see AI Requires Global Cooperation (14 April 2024), https://lawmagazine.bc.edu/2024/04/ai-requires-global-cooperation/.
• 2024: Cited in Speech by the Master of the Rolls, Oxford Blackstone Lecture: see Are Rights Sufficiently Human in the Age of the Machine? (28 November 2024), https://www.judiciary.uk/speech-by-the-master-of-the-rolls-are-rights-sufficiently-human-in-the-age-of-the-machine/.
• 2024: Quoted in KU Leuven Report: see Summary Report of the High-Level Panel Discussion Global Voices on AI Governance (July 2024), https://ghum.kuleuven.be/ggs/research/america-europefund/20240705-summary-report-panel-discussion-global.pdf.
• 2023: Quoted in Cointelegraph: see All Rise for the Robot Judge: AI and Blockchain Could Transform the Courtroom (13 March 2023), https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/all-rise-for-robot-judge-ai-blockchain-transform-courtroom/.
• 2023: Quoted in Deutsche Welle: see How China's AI is Automating the Legal System (20 January 2023), https://www.dw.com/en/how-chinas-ai-is-automating-the-legal-system/a-64465988.
• 2023: Quoted in Above the Law: see OMG, China Has ACTUAL Legal Robots And All The Legal Tech Patents (13 November 2023), https://abovethelaw.com/2023/11/omg-china-has-actual-legal-robots-and-all-the-legal-tech-patents/.
• 2022: Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts:
• 2021: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy:

Journal Article

• Beyond Accuracy: How Humans Evaluate Legally Correct but Socially Controversial Legal Advice from Machines
  
  Chen, B., & Li, Z. (in press). Beyond Accuracy: How Humans Evaluate Legally Correct but Socially Controversial Legal Advice from Machines. Technology, Mind, and Behavior.
• Two Kinds of Dual States: Judicial Empowerment and Disempowerment in Authoritarian Politics
  
  Li, Z. (2025). Two Kinds of Dual States: Judicial Empowerment and Disempowerment in Authoritarian Politics. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 58(3), 609-660.
• Detecting the influence of the Chinese guiding cases: a text reuse approach
  
  Chen, B. M., Li, Z., Cai, D., & Ash, E. (2024). Detecting the influence of the Chinese guiding cases: a text reuse approach. Artificial Intelligence and Law, 32, 463-486. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10506-023-09358-7
• Courts Without Separation of Powers: The Case of Judicial Suggestions in China
  
  Chen, M. B., & Li, Z. (2023). Courts Without Separation of Powers: The Case of Judicial Suggestions in China. Harvard International Law Journal, 64(1), 203-252.
• Specialized Judicial Empowerment
  
  Li, Z. (2022). Specialized Judicial Empowerment. University of Florida Journal of Law and Public Policy, 32(3), 491-546.
• Judicial Legitimation in China
  
  Chen, B. M., & Li, Z. (2021). Judicial Legitimation in China. Cornell International Law Journal, 53(2), 169-206.
• How Will Technology Change the Face of Chinese Justice?
  
  Chen, B. M., & Li, Z. (2020). How Will Technology Change the Face of Chinese Justice? Columbia Journal of Asian Law., 34(1), 1-58. https://doi.org/10.7916/cjal.v34i1.7484
• Innovation Through Interpretation: How Judges Make Policy in China
  
  Li, Z. (2018). Innovation Through Interpretation: How Judges Make Policy in China. Tulane Journal of International & Comparative Law., 26(2), 327-380.
• The Foundations of Judicial Diffusion in China: Evidence from an Experiment
  
  Chen, B. M., & Li, Z. (2017). The Foundations of Judicial Diffusion in China: Evidence from an Experiment. Review of Law and Economics, 14(3), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1515/rle-2017-0008
• Explaining Comparative Administrative Law: The Standing of Positive Political Theory
  
  Chen, B. M., & Li, Z. (2016). Explaining Comparative Administrative Law: The Standing of Positive Political Theory. Washington International Law Journal, 25(1), 87-131.

Other (Print)

• AI Governance: The Chinese Approach
  
  Li, Z. (2024). AI Governance: The Chinese Approach. The Law, Ethics & Policy of AI Blog. KU Leuven AI Summer School.
• The Silent Influence of Guiding Cases: A Text Reuse Approach
  
  Chen, B., Li, Z., Cai, D., & Ash, E. (2023). The Silent Influence of Guiding Cases: A Text Reuse Approach. European Chinese Law Research Hub.
• How Technology is Changing Justice in China
  
  Qiao, S., Li, Z., & Chen, B. (2022). How Technology is Changing Justice in China. Judicature International.