Trust, expertise, and Artificial Intelligence (AI): Why human judgment still decides the future of international arbitration

AI is changing how legal teams research, draft, and prepare for disputes. In international arbitration, where the stakes are high and the case files are often massive, the question isn't whether AI will play a role. It's how practitioners can use it without compromising quality, confidentiality, or trust.

That question was at the center of Trust, Expertise and AI: Shaping the Future of International Arbitration, a recent webinar hosted by Wolters Kluwer, Kluwer Law International, and Libra by Wolters Kluwer. Here's what you need to know.

Meet the speakers

Gary Born is Co-Chair of the International Arbitration Group at King & Spalding. He's been ranked among the world's premier international arbitration advocates for more than 25 years and has handled more than 750 arbitrations, including four of the largest International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) cases. He's also the author of several publications on International (Arbitration) Law, including International Law in American Courts, International Arbitration: Law & Practice and International Commercial Arbitration, the field's most comprehensive commentary that will soon publish in its fourth edition. Two dozen apex courts worldwide have cited his work. All his publications, including International Commercial Arbitration will also be available within Libra.

Viktor von Essen is CEO of Libra by Wolters Kluwer. Before moving into legal tech, he practiced arbitration at Freshfields and elsewhere. He also worked at the ICC, where he administered one of the first emergency arbitrator cases under the 2012 rules. Having worked with thousands of lawyers while building Libra, he brings a practitioner's view to how AI should support legal work.

Key takeaways

1. Machine gun or sniper: AI amplifies the strategy you choose

Viktor opened the AI discussion with an analogy from his time clerking at the German Federal Constitutional Court. Some submissions were "machine gun" filings, listing every theoretical violation. Others were "sniper" filings: one crystal-clear, targeted argument.

Born noted that AI can power either approach. It can produce a long, complex battery of arguments faster than ever. It can also help lawyers identify and crystallize a single, high-quality point.

"How AI is used then doesn't really depend on the technology," he said. "It depends on the person using it."

2. Hallucinations make human judgment non-negotiable

Both speakers agreed that AI brings real value. It can speed up searches, build chronologies, and even suggest creative hypotheses. But every output needs review.

"It can give you an idea, a hypothesis, and that may be wrong or, in the language of the day, hallucinated," Born explained. Lawyers must evaluate that output and decide what to do with it, "which might include throwing it in the waste bin."

Viktor described three principles behind trustworthy legal AI:

• Compliance: The tool must meet professional and data protection standards.
• Transparency: Users should see where every answer comes from. In Libra, almost every sentence includes a footnote linking to the case file or trusted content.
• Legal reasoning: The system should reflect how lawyers think and the work product they're trying to create.

Born added a striking observation: AI platforms make high-quality content more important, not less, because they help users get to what matters and separate good sources from weaker ones.

3. The billable hour isn't going anywhere

Will AI end the billable hour? Born isn't convinced. "The billable hour has died dozens of times over the last 25, 50 years, yet somehow it keeps walking around," he said. "I'm not going to bet against the billable hour."

From Viktor’s experience building Libra and working with thousands of lawyers, AI's real value isn't in replacing billable work, it's in removing t0068e repetitive, time-consuming tasks that drain a lawyer's energy. "The human in the loop is what matters," he said. "AI should empower the lawyer to focus on what's truly human: creative thinking, strategy, and client relationships." When AI handles the groundwork, lawyers can spend their billable time on the work that actually demands their expertise.

Born argued the model naturally captures AI efficiencies. If AI drafts a chronology in moments, you can't bill the 25 hours it once took. What remains is the time spent on expert review, which is where clients see the real value.

Viktor agreed, and framed it from the practitioner's side: AI should take over the repetitive, time-consuming groundwork so lawyers can direct their energy toward the work that truly matters. "It's about taking away mundane, repetitive work from the human lawyer," he said, "enabling and empowering the human to be focused even more on being creative and on the human element of legal practice." That shift doesn't threaten the billable hour, it refocuses it on the expertise clients are actually paying for.

4. Confidentiality depends on party autonomy

Arbitration isn't inherently confidential or transparent, Born explained. Investment arbitration has moved toward transparency, while many commercial sectors still favor confidentiality. Ultimately, the parties decide. Viktor emphasized that this makes the choice of AI tool critical. For him, a trustworthy legal AI platform must be compliant, fully transparent about its sources, and designed with the sensitivity of legal data in mind, because confidentiality obligations don't pause just because the work is AI-assisted.

When AI enters the picture, that principle still applies. Practitioners must use tools that respect confidentiality obligations. Viktor stressed that this is non-negotiable in practice: a compliant, transparent AI platform isn't a nice-to-have, it's a professional requirement. "You need certain guardrails that guarantee that human judgment prevails," he said. In Libra, that means full source transparency and strict data boundaries so confidentiality obligations are never compromised, even when AI is doing the heavy lifting.

On disclosure, Born opposes rushed institutional or legislative regulation and favors a case-by-case approach led by tribunals. Tribunals, however, should disclose their own AI use, just as they disclose tribunal secretaries. "I'm not sure that there's a big difference between a secretary that's named Roger and a secretary that's named Harvey and happens to be a machine," he said.

5. Advice for junior lawyers: master the law, then use AI well

For first-year associates, Born offered two pieces of advice. First, follow your organization's guidance. Second, don't stop there. Do your own research and study the foundational texts. Viktor echoed that view from a different angle. Having worked closely with lawyers at every career stage, he's seen how easy it is to let AI do the thinking rather than support it. His advice: treat AI as a tool that sharpens your legal reasoning, not one that replaces it. Young lawyers who learn to guide AI step by step, rather than delegating their thinking to it, will build stronger skills and better judgment over time.

"What we add in terms of value as lawyers is our understanding of the law," he said.

Asked whether AI might rob juniors of formative experience, Born acknowledged the concern but put it in perspective: "By using AI properly, they can actually increase, arguably exponentially, their experience." Viktor reinforced that point from the practitioner's side. In his work with lawyers at every career stage, he's seen that the real opportunity for junior lawyers isn't just efficiency, it's focus. When AI handles the repetitive groundwork, young lawyers can spend more of their time on reasoning, creativity, and the human element of legal practice. That's not a shortcut. It's a better way to build the skills that matter most.

The bottom line

AI can make international arbitration faster, more thorough, and even more creative. But its value depends on the people using it and the quality of the sources behind it. Trusted content, transparent tools, and sound human judgment will define the next era of dispute resolution.

Watch the full webinar on demand to hear Gary Born and Viktor von Essen's complete conversation.