ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND LEGAL TECHNOLOGY IN LAW SCHOOLS: UZBEKISTAN AND CENTRAL ASIA IN GLOBAL COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Аннотация

The growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and legal technology (LegalTech) is changing what lawyers do and what skills they need. However, law schools have responded to these changes at different speeds. While institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe have already introduced new courses and programs, many law schools in Central Asia - especially in Uzbekistan - are only beginning to address these developments.

This article explores the main challenges and opportunities for legal education in Uzbekistan and the wider Central Asian region, placing this discussion in a global comparative context. Drawing on theories of experiential learning, competency-based education, and technology ethics, and grounded in three embedded case studies from Uzbekistan - the e-SUD electronic court system, the TSUL LegalTech Laboratory, and the Lex.uz national legal database. The article proposes a Three-Pillar Framework for curriculum reform: Technological Literacy, Critical Legal Reasoning in the Age of AI, and Ethical Governance.

The article argues that although Central Asian law schools face structural challenges - including limited LegalTech markets, language barriers, and post-Soviet institutional legacies - they also hold a latecomer advantage: the opportunity to integrate AI literacy from the outset, rather than retrofitting it onto established but outdated models. The methodology combines theoretical analysis, comparative institutional analysis, policy document review, and secondary empirical data to substantiate its conclusions.