Washington University in St. Louis School of Law is fortifying its position as a leader in legal technology with the launch of a global network that seeks to expand education and research on the intersection of artificial intelligence and the law. This initiative connects WashU Law with preeminent legal programs across six continents, promoting “cross-border knowledge sharing” and strengthening AI literacy for future lawyers, judges, and policymakers, according to a WashU Law press release obtained by The National Law Review (NLR).
The inaugural partner institutions include:
University of Queensland (Australia)
Fudan University Law School (China)
Universidad de la Sabana (Colombia)
Addis Ababa University School of Law (Ethiopia)
National Law School of India University (India)
Utrecht University (Netherlands)
Comillas University (Spain)
Koç University Faculty of Law (Turkey)
University of Nottingham (United Kingdom)
According to the press release, the network will foster academic exchange, align teaching methods, and build inclusive curricula that cover the fundamentals and insights from a multitude of legal systems. Beginning in 2026, this partnership will expand through a series of global initiatives including virtual webinars on AI regulation, joint research forums, and in-person training of both faculty and students.
Partner universities are already planning collaborative projects. Cem Veziroğlu, an assistant professor at Koç University Law School, told the NLR that his institution is launching a joint “AI & Law Seminar Program” with WashU Law and also hopes to host “AI Hackathons” intended to bring scholars and policymakers together.
WashU Law, which has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to AI, is a natural leader for this consortium. Last January, WashU Law became one of the first law schools in the U.S. to offer comprehensive AI training to students, faculty, and alumni through a week-long program created by Wickard AI. This September, The National Law Review reported that the Missouri law school appointed an AI advisory board featuring prominent figures in the legal technology field. Furthermore, in late October, WashU Law hosted Legal Tech Week in conjunction with the NLR, where leaders in the legal AI industry demonstrated exciting new AI tools for the legal professions.
Ryan Durrie, WashU Law’s director of AI initiatives and co-director of the WashU Law AI Collaborative, sees the new global initiative as a natural next step in the university’s embrace of new technology. In a statement, Durrie summarized the value of this global partnership: “WashU is a global law institution. By working with multiple partner institutions around the world, we will be able to share new developments, best practices, and practical tips about how the practice of law is evolving across the world.”
These partnerships “reflect the urgent need for legal education that keeps pace with rapid advances in artificial intelligence,” according to Stephanie Lindquist, Dean of WashU Law in the press release. “Working with institutions around the globe will help prepare students and scholars to engage AI’s challenges with insight, accountability, and an appreciation for the diversity of legal traditions.”
The formation of the network comes at a critical moment, as legal education grapples with the future of the profession. Rick Bigwood, Dean of the University of Queensland’s T.C. Beirne School of Law, said his university and others have been “scrambling” to adjust to the rapidly shifting legal climate. In a conversation with the NLR, Bigwood notes that U.S. law schools are at the forefront of changes in legal education, and that this collaboration allows for the University of Queensland’s law school to stay ahead of trends, “even if they haven’t yet reached Australia.”
Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Vice-Chancellor of the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, shares Bigwood’s enthusiasm for the partnership. He emphasizes that collaboration is necessary to “train students who can confidently use and evaluate AI in legal work while retaining and deepening the core critical, argumentative, and doctrinal skills that define the legal profession.” Krishnaswamy told the NLR that the partnership with WashU Law is rooted in a “shared commitment to the responsible development and adoption of AI.”
Veziroğlu is especially excited about the partnership’s capacity to encourage researchers to view AI as a “transformative force with profound implications for justice, markets, and society.” He hopes that through the partnership, Koç University will be able to produce concrete policy proposals that speak directly to Turkey’s unique regulatory challenges.
Durrie explains that this enthusiasm is mutual, noting that forming international partnerships allows WashU Law to “give cutting-edge guidance to our students on how to think about and be discerning users of AI.”
Across institutions, one theme is unmistakable: AI training is no longer optional, but instead necessary for the next generation of lawyers. Bigwood says it is paramount that institutions train students to not only use these new tools, but also to “audit, deeply and meaningfully, all the outputs that AI happens to produce.” Krishnaswamy echoes this point, observing that AI will “structure how law is practiced, governed, and accessed in both India and the wider world.”
With this network, legal institutions are making a bet that, if they work together, they can keep up with technological innovations.