Elliott Ash
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Elliott Ash is an associate professor of law, economics and data science at ETH Zurich's Center for Law & Economics. His research uses econometrics, natural-language processing and machine learning to study legal institutions and texts. His work connects computational methods with questions about legal practice and the operation of legal systems.[1][2]
Roles and affiliations
ETH's biography records earlier appointments at the University of Warwick and Princeton University's Center for the Study of Democratic Politics. Ash holds an economics doctorate and law degree from Columbia University, and an international-criminal-law master's degree from the University of Amsterdam.[1]
On October 14, 2026, Columbia Law School announced that Ash would become its inaugural Paul, Weiss Distinguished AI Scholar in Residence. The announced three-year appointment begins in January 2027 and includes teaching three AI-focused courses each year. It forms part of Columbia's AI initiative and its partnership with Paul, Weiss.[3]
Contributions and positions
Empirical analysis of law
Ash's research overview describes empirical work on law and legal systems using statistical and computational techniques. ETH lists publications in economics, law and political-science journals. This research agenda combines the analysis of legal materials with methods suited to examining large collections of text.[1]
Natural-language processing and legal practice
In the 2023 position paper The Law and NLP: Bridging Disciplinary Disconnects, Ash and his coauthors examine the relationship between natural-language-processing research and legal practice. The original abstract argues that a mismatch between researchers' preferred tasks and practitioners' needs has hindered adoption. The authors propose closer attention to legal users' needs and identify underexplored directions for research.[2]
The paper connects this agenda to access to justice: its authors suggest that language-processing tools could help address unmet legal needs. This is their research position, rather than evidence that a particular tool has achieved that outcome.[2]
Selected works
- The Law and NLP: Bridging Disciplinary Disconnects (2023), with Mahari, Stammbach and Pentland — position paper; linked original abstract and manuscript record.[2]
Coverage
- Columbia's October 2026 announcement describes the future scholar-in-residence appointment and planned teaching.[3]
Related articles
- October 14 News: Columbia AI initiative and scholar-in-residence appointment
- Neel Guha
- People in AI and Law
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 ETH Zurich, Elliott Ash, faculty biography and research overview. Reviewed October 14, 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Robert Mahari, Dominik Stammbach, Elliott Ash and Alex “Sandy” Pentland, The Law and NLP: Bridging Disciplinary Disconnects, arXiv, October 22, 2023; original abstract and bibliographic record.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Columbia Law School, AI @ CLS: Columbia Law School’s Artificial Intelligence Initiative, October 14, 2026.