Home | About Us | Contact Us | Shopping Cart
Plenary description: As artificial intelligence transforms systems that govern everything from bail to benefits, the key question is not just how these tools work, but what they do to us as members of a shared society. Algorithms don’t simply process data; they reflect and reinforce the assumptions, values, and historical inequalities embedded in our institutions. This session explores the evolving role of lawyers as stewards of justice in an automated age, and how we can help safeguard foundational legal values in a world increasingly shaped by code.
Professor Sonia M. Gipson Rankin is a distinguished legal scholar and educator with an interdisciplinary background. Holding a J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law and a B.S. in Computer Science from Morgan State University, summa cum laude, Prof. Gipson Rankin is a Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico School of Law, where she blends her love of tech, torts, and toddlers. Her algorithmic justice scholarship has been featured in prestigious journals including the Washington and Lee Law Review, NYU Law Review Online, Wisconsin Law Review, Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering, and the ABA SciTech Magazine. Her work on legal education innovation features in the Connecticut Law Review, Family Law Quarterly, and the Journal of Law and Education. Prof. Gipson Rankin is an American Bar Foundation Fellow, member of the New Mexico Supreme Court Commission on Equity and Justice and a past president of the New Mexico Black Lawyers Association. She is a member of the UNM-Santa Fe Institute Interdisciplinary Working Group on Algorithmic Justice, where she collaborates with experts across fields to advise state and federal policymakers on AI-related issues. She co-founded the UNM Algorithmic Justice Project and regularly speaks on AI, technology, algorithmic justice, constitutional law, and inclusive leadership, having been a contributor and legal analyst in media outlets such as BBC World News, Reuters, NPR, Yahoo! Finance, Agence France-Presse, podcasts and local media outlets. Additionally, she regularly presents lectures on artificial intelligence to judges serving in state, international, and tribal courts, as well as state bars, universities, medical associations and private industries across the United States.