Yonathan Arbel, a scholar whose work sits at the intersection of private law, legal technology, and AI governance, will join the University of Miami School of Law as a visiting professor for the 2026-27 academic year before moving into a permanent faculty role in June 2027. His appointment places a leading voice on AI's collision with the legal system directly into South Florida's expanding tech and financial sectors.
Arbel arrives from the University of Alabama School of Law, where he was a tenured professor. He holds both an LL.M. and an S.J.D. from Harvard Law School, with a specialization in contract law, behavioral economics, and consumer protection. Before entering academia, he clerked for the Supreme Court of Israel.
"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."
Two urgent research questions
Arbel's current scholarship tackles two distinct problems. The first asks how to build a legal system that can support the AI revolution. His work examines autonomous AI-controlled corporations, AI assistants that help judges interpret contracts, and strategies to prevent courts from being overwhelmed by AI-generated lawsuits.
The second question addresses large-scale security risks from increasingly advanced AI models. With recent incidents showing how sophisticated systems can enable severe cyberattacks, Arbel focuses on governance mechanisms that preserve democratic control and mitigate catastrophic outcomes. He views South Florida's concentration of innovators, financiers, and regulators as a living laboratory for testing these ideas.
The access-to-justice paradox
AI tools promise dramatic efficiency gains, but Arbel warns that the legal system was built on an assumption of under-enforcement. The institutions simply are not designed for the volume of claims that AI could unlock.
"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 cautions that courts could respond by closing their doors - not only to frivolous claims, but to deserving litigants. "The opportunity, therefore, is not simply to make legal services more efficient. It is to redesign our institutions so that greater access to legal rights produces more justice rather than institutional retreat."
Advice for lawyers entering the profession
Arbel's guidance for law students is direct: think of AI as a force multiplier from day one. "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," he said.
But he stresses that access to AI tools alone will not distinguish a lawyer, since every practitioner will have them. The advantage comes from 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 combine rigorous legal fundamentals with native AI fluency. For professionals looking to build that fluency, following developments in AI for Legal applications is an increasingly practical step.
Why this matters for legal professionals
Arbel's appointment signals where legal education is heading - toward a model that treats AI governance and legal technology not as electives, but as core competencies. His warning about institutional capacity is a practical one: lawyers who understand both the power and the limits of AI tools, and who can help design systems to handle higher claim volumes without sacrificing due process, will be better positioned than those who treat the technology as a simple efficiency play. For paralegals and support staff, structured training like an AI Learning Path for Paralegals can build the foundational skills that Arbel describes as essential for directing AI effectively in document review and contract analysis.
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