Yonathan Arbel, a leading scholar of private law, legal technology, and artificial intelligence governance, joins Miami Law with a research agenda focused on some of the most urgent questions facing the legal profession. He will serve as a visiting professor during the 2026-27 academic year before joining the faculty permanently in June 2027.
Arbel comes to Coral Gables with a deep background in global legal practice, scholarship, and judicial clerkships. He holds both an LL.M. and an S.J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he specialized in contract law, behavioral economics, and consumer protection. Before moving into legal academia, he served as a law clerk for the Supreme Court of Israel. Prior to joining Miami Law, Arbel served as a tenured Professor of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law, establishing himself as a leading voice in legal technology, private law theory, and empirical legal studies.
For Arbel, South Florida’s rapidly evolving legal and technological landscape made the decision to come to Coral Gables an easy one.
"I was drawn to Miami Law by the strong sense that the school is actively building the next generation of legal education," Arbel said. "Miami is at the center of a rapidly growing ecosystem of entrepreneurship, finance, and technology. For someone whose work focuses on legal technology, artificial intelligence, private law, and AI governance, it is one of the most exciting places in the world to be right now."
During his visiting year, Arbel looks forward to connecting with students, contributing to campus intellectual life, and exploring collaborations across the University and South Florida communities.
Scholarship at the frontier of legal AI and risk
Arbel’s current research addresses two pivotal questions facing modern jurisprudence. The first focuses on building a legal system capable of supporting the AI revolution. His scholarship looks at how AI is transforming the law, examining autonomous AI-controlled corporations, AI assistants that help judges interpret contracts, and strategies to protect courts from being swamped by AI-generated lawsuits.
The second question tackles the large-scale security risks posed by increasingly advanced AI models. As recent incidents highlight the potential for sophisticated systems to facilitate severe cyberattacks, Arbel has focused on governance mechanisms designed to preserve democratic control and mitigate catastrophic outcomes.
He views South Florida’s booming tech and financial sectors as a living laboratory for these questions—a place to directly collaborate with the innovators, financiers, regulators, and legal professionals shaping emerging technologies in real time.
Redesigning institutions for true access to justice
While AI tools offer immense efficiency gains, Arbel points out that traditional legal frameworks were built around an assumption of under-enforcement.
"I have spent much of my career working to expand access to justice, so seeing more people exercise their rights fills me with optimism," Arbel said. "But I worry that our institutions lack the capacity to absorb the increased demand that AI will enable. If we do not equip the legal system to handle a dramatic increase in claims, the reaction may be severe."
He warns that courts could respond to practical necessity by closing their doors—not only to frivolous claims, but to deserving litigants seeking justice. "The opportunity, therefore, is not simply to make legal services more efficient," he said. "It is to redesign our institutions so that greater access to legal rights produces more justice rather than institutional retreat."
Advice for the next generation of lawyers
When asked how Miami Law students should prepare for an AI-integrated profession, Arbel encourages a shift in mindset from day one: "AI is a force multiplier. From the first day of practice, young lawyers should begin thinking of themselves not merely as individual contributors, but as partners leading a team—or perhaps a swarm—of extraordinarily capable junior associates."
However, Arbel emphasizes that because every practitioner will have access to these tools, using AI alone will not distinguish a lawyer. The key to standing out lies in directing the technology effectively: framing the right problems, asking revealing questions, spotting flawed outputs, and applying sound legal judgment. Success will belong to those who unite rigorous legal fundamentals with native AI fluency.
When he isn't researching AI governance or teaching, Arbel keeps things well-rounded. "Free time? You will usually find me somewhere between playing video games, lifting weights, and embarking on unnecessarily snobby coffee excursions," he said.
Read more about the School of Law’s technology law area of study.
