| Trevor Bench-Capon | |
| Nationality: | British |
| Workplaces: | University of Liverpool |
| Alma Mater: | Oxford University (PhD, 1980) |
| Thesis Title: | Can God Be an Object of Reference? |
| Thesis Url: | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:6255c27a-9bb9-4150-b8e6-1be26e8a7207 |
| Thesis Year: | 1980 |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Michael Dummett |
| Notable Students: | Latifa Al-Abdulkarim Katie Atkinson |
| Known For: | Artificial intelligence applied to law Ontology |
Trevor Bench-Capon (born 1953, died 20th May 2024) was a British computer scientist and an Honorary Visiting Professor of computer science at the University of Liverpool, where he taught from 1987 until his retirement in 2012. He is the author of work on computer science and ontology and is one of the editors in chief of the Artificial Intelligence and Law Journal.
After reading Philosophy and Economics at St John's College, Oxford, Bench-Capon took the research degree of D. Phil at Oxford. He then worked in the policy and computer branches of the British Government's Department of Health and Social Security, after which he researched logic programming as applied to legislation at Imperial College London. Since 1987 he has been an academic in the Computer Science department of the University of Liverpool, first as lecturer, then from 1992 senior lecturer, from 1999 Reader, and from 2004 as Professor of Computer Science.[1] With Kevin D. Ashley and Giovanni Sartor he is an editor in chief of the Artificial Intelligence and Law Journal.[2]
Bench-Capon's interests are all aspects of advanced informatics systems, with a specialism in the application of such systems to law.[1] He has been called "one of the world's recognised experts on AI and the law".[3]
In 1975 Bench-Capon was a member of the St John's College University Challenge team, and in 1978 he married Priscilla Bradley, who had represented St Anne's in the competition earlier that year. Their sons James and Michael appeared in the University Challenge teams of Clare College, Cambridge, and Oriel College, Oxford, in 2002 and 2003 respectively.[4]