Professor and Canada Research Chair in Law, Economics, & Innovation

Jackman Law Building
Room J366
78 Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C5 

Tel.: 416-978-5403
Email: anthony.niblett@utoronto.ca

Anthony Niblett researches contract law, innovation, law & economics, judicial behaviour, and competition policy. You can find some of his research papers here.

Professor Niblett joined the Faculty of Law in 2011. He teaches Contract Law, Torts, Competition Policy, Economic Analysis of Law, and Legal Methods.

Professor Niblett is the Academic Advisor at the Future of Law Lab at the Faculty and an Affiliate Researcher with the Vector Institute for AI. In 2019, Professor Niblett gave a TEDx talk on machine learning and law. 

Professor Niblett holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard as well as degrees in law and commerce from the University of Melbourne. He was a Bigelow Fellow at the University of Chicago before moving to Canada.

In addition to his academic career, Professor Niblett is a co-founder of Blue J, a start-up using AI to help tax and legal professionals. 

 

See also Professor Niblett's SSRN page.
Education
Ph.D. - Economics, Harvard University (2009)
M.A. - Economics, Harvard University (2006)
LL.B. (Hon.) - University of Melbourne (2003)
B.Com. (Hon. in Econ.) - University of Melbourne (2003)
Other info
Selected publications

2023

Problems with Probability, University of Toronto Law Journal (forthcoming 2023) [with Anthony J. Casey]

Artificial Intelligence and Judging, Oxford Handbook of Comparative Judicial Behaviour (forthcoming 2023)

Stronger Enforcement of the Competition Act is Better Than a Dramatic Overhaul, MacDonald Laurier Institute Commentary (February 2023)

The Competition Act, Not the Competitors Act, 67 Canadian Business Law Journal 83 (2023)

 

2022

The Limits of Public Contract Law, Law & Contemporary Problems (forthcoming 2022) [with Anthony J. Casey]

The Present and Near Future of Self-Driving Contracts, in Ernest Lim & Philip Morgan (ed), Cambridge Handbook on Private Law and Artificial Intelligence (2022, Cambridge Univ. Press) [with Anthony J. Casey]

 

2021

Micro-directives and Computational Merger Review, 1 Stanford Journal of Computational Antitrust 132 (2021) [with Anthony J. Casey]

Up to the Task: Why Canadians don’t need sweeping changes to competition policy to handle Big Tech, MacDonald Laurier Institute Commentary (November 2021) [with D. Daniel Sokol]

Artificial Intelligence and Regulation, in Pina D'Agostino, Carole Piovesan, & Aviv Gaon (ed), Leading Legal Disruption: AI and a Toolkit for Lawyers and the Law (2021, Thomson Reuters)

Predictive Analytics, in Jesse Beatson, Gerald Chan, & Jill Presser (ed), Litigating Artificial Intelligence (2021, Emond Publishing)

Litigation Analytics, in Noah Waisberg & Alexander Hudek (ed), AI for Lawyers: How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Law Practice and Careers (2021, Wiley Publishing)

 

2020

Will Robot Judges Change Litigation and Settlement Outcomes? A First Look at the Algorithmic Replication of Prior Cases, M.I.T. Computation Law Report, vol. 2.0 (2020) [with Anthony J Casey]

Algorithms as Legal Decisions: Gender Gaps and Canadian Employment Law in the 21st Century, 71 University of New Brunswick Law Journal 112 (2020)

The Effect of a Change in a Legal Rule, in Yun-chien Chang (ed.), Selection and Decision in Judicial Process Around the World: Empirical Inquiries (2020, Cambridge University Press)

Data Analytics and Tax Law, in Roland Vogl, Research Handbook on Big Data Law (2020) [co-authored with Ben Alarie & Albert H. Yoon]

 

2019

A Framework for the New Personalization of Law, 86 Univ. of Chicago Law Review 333 (2019) [co-authored with Anthony J. Casey]

 

2018

How Artificial Intelligence Will Affect the Practice of Law, 68 Univ. of Toronto Law Journal 106 (2018) [co-authored with Ben Alarie & Albert H. Yoon]

The Application of Machine Learning to Constitutional Law, in David S. Law & Malcolm Langford (eds.), Research Methods in Constitutional Law Handbook (2018, Elgar) [with Albert H. Yoon]        

Regulation Reform in Ontario: Machine Learning and Regulation, 43(3) C.D. Howe Institute Commentary 507 (2018)

 

2017

Unintended Consequences: The Regressive Effects of Increased Access to Courts, 14(1) Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 5 (2017) [co-authored with Albert H. Yoon]

The Death of Rules and Standards, 92(4) Indiana Law Journal 1401 (2017) [co-authored with Anthony J. Casey]

Self-Driving Contracts, 43(1) Journal of Corporation Law 101 (2017) [co-authored with Anthony J. Casey]    

Regulation by Machine, Journal of Machine Learning Research (W&CP) (2017) [co-authored with Ben Alarie & Albert H. Yoon]

On the Efficiency of the Common Law: An Application to the Recovery of Rewards, 43(3) European Journal of Law & Economics 393 (2017)

Computational Legal Research and the Advocate of the Future, 36 Advocates Quarterly 12 (2017) [co-authored with Ben Alarie & Albert H. Yoon]

Delaying Declarations of Constitutional Validity, in Frank Fagan & Saul Levmore (eds.), The Timing of Lawmaking (2017, Elgar)

 

2016

Using Machine Learning to Predict Outcomes in Tax Law, 58(3) Canadian Business Law Journal 231 (2016) [co-authored with Ben Alarie & Albert H. Yoon]

Self-Driving Laws, 66(4) University of Toronto Law Journal 429 (2016) [co-authored with Anthony J. Casey]

Law in the Future, 66(4) University of Toronto Law Journal 423 (2016) [co-authored with Benjamin Alarie & Albert H. Yoon]

Friendly Precedent, 57 William & Mary Law Review 1795 (2016) [co-authored with Albert H. Yoon]

 

2015

Judicial Disharmony: A Study of Dissent, 42 International Review of Law & Economics 60 (2015) [co-authored with Albert H. Yoon]

Hostile Takeovers and Overreliance, 38 Seattle University Law Review 595 (Symposium edition, 2015)

 

2014

Noise Reduction: The Screening Value of Qui Tam, 91(5) Washington University Law Review 1169 (2014) [co-authored with Anthony J. Casey]

 

2013 and earlier

Case-by-Case Adjudication and the Path of the Law, 42(2) Journal of Legal Studies 303 (2013)

Tracking Inconsistent Judicial Behavior, 34 International Review of Law & Economics 9 (2013) 

The Evolution of a Legal Rule, 39(2) Journal of Legal Studies 325 (2010) [co-authored with Richard A. Posner and Andrei Shleifer] -- Reprinted in Andrei Shleifer, The Failure of Judges and the Rise of Regulators (MIT Press, 2012)

Do Judges Cherry Pick Precedents to Justify Extra-Legal Decisions, 70(1) Maryland Law Review 234 (Fall 2010)

Structural and Behavioural Market Power under the Trade Practices Act: An Application to Predatory Pricing, 32(2) Australian Business Law Review 83 (2004) (co-authored with Joshua S. Gans and Stephen P. King) 

 

Curriculum Vitae

Law Courses

First Year: Contract Law (0101)

Publications

All Publications
See also Professor Niblett's SSRN page.