Jake Gao

Jake Gao

Assistant Professor of Law
Sacramento
Email Address:
jgao2@pacific.edu

Jingkang (Jake) Gao joined the faculty at McGeorge School of Law in July 2026 as an Assistant Professor of Law. Gao examines how human behavior and technological changes shape and challenge legal institutions. Using case studies in urban mobility, his research explores motivations for legal compliance, how algorithmic aversion affects liability for algorithm-operated machines, how big data and algorithms are reshaping the evolving mix of legal rules and standards, and how procurement law can be applied and reformed to advance industrial and climate policy.

Prior to joining the faculty at McGeorge School of Law, Gao served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law and Ribstein Fellow at the University of Illinois Urbana-Campaign where he taught courses on Behavioral Economics and the Law and Law and Emerging Technology from 2024-2026.
Education

PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
JD, Columbia Law School
MS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
BSE, Princeton University


SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Gao, Jingkang, Formal Neutrality and Unequal Liability: How Algorithmic Aversion Distorts Liability for Algorithmic Torts, 66 Santa Clara L. Rev. 138 (2026).

Gao, Jingkang, Accelerating Bus Electrification in the United States: Legal Instruments and Interventions for Transit Agencies and the Federal Transit Administration, 38 Geo. Env. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming, 2026).

Gao, Jingkang and Zhao, Jinhua, Legitimacy vs. Morality: Why do the Chinese Obey the Law? 42 Law and Human Behavior 167 (2018).

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Curriculum Vitae
gao_CV051826.pdf (181.57 KB)