In memoriam: Tanel Kerikmäe

Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), the Department of Law and the Estonian legal community suffered a profound loss with the unexpected and premature passing of Professor Tanel Kerikme, director of the Department of Law.Many of us lost a very dear friend and young researchers a valued mentor.Professor Kerikme-Tanel-was a visionary, one of those rare persons with the ability to see around the corner, to anticipate relevant questions sometimes even before they are articulated.It is no coincidence that, at the time of his death, he was deeply involved in the legal aspects of artifi cial intelligence.Among his ongoing and sadly interrupted work were projects involving algorithms in confl ict resolution, legal design, risks of bias or, instead, tools for improving access to justice through automation-the list could go on.Tanel was a sought-after speaker at conferences, a visiting professor at universities around the world and an expert in governmental and other studies at the Estonian, European and global level.With Tanel, even a discussion that was supposed to deal with administrative and practical matters could turn into a brainstorming session, leading to a new exciting idea for research.