PhD candidate Maaike Huijzer, about the use of AI in Comparative Law
On 22 May 2026, Maaike Huijzer gave a presentation at the annual symposium of the Netherlands Comparative Law Association. The theme of this symposium was: 'AI and Methods of Comparative Legal Research | Exploring the Future of Comparative Law in the Age of Artificial Intelligence'.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the ways in which legal scholars collect, analyze, and structure information. This shift presents both opportunities and challenges in the field of comparative legal research, a field that relies on close engagement with studying a variety of legal sources and a contextual understanding of foreign legal systems. The question is no longer whether AI will influence comparative legal research, but how researchers can guide that development through responsible, transparent, and skillful use of AI tools.
This symposium brought together established and emerging researchers from law and related disciplines to explore the emerging methodological relationship between AI and comparative law, to critically reflect on: How AI may reshape the practice, methods, epistemology, and teaching of comparative law: can AI reveal structural differences between legal systems that human researchers might overlook? Does relying on automated tools affect the researcher’s responsibility for nuance and cultural understanding in comparative work? How can comparative analysis remain reliable when grounded in AI-generated translations of foreign legal sources?
By engaging with these questions, the symposium aims to equip researchers to harness AI’s potential in ways that strengthen and expand the comparative legal tradition.
Maaike spoke about the practical application of generative AI in the preparation of comparative law. Later this year, a written volume of the symposium will be published, in which her presentation will also feature.
Other speakers and subjects included:
- Marieke Oderkerk, Professor of Private International Law and Comparative Law, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Introductory remarks - Bertram Lomfeld, Professor of Private law, Intellectual Property Law, Comparative Law and Foundations of Law, Free University Berlin
Comparative Law & AI: A Reflexive Approach - Catalina Goanta, Associate Professor in Private Law and Technology, Utrecht University
Comparative Law in Cyberspace: A Place for Computational Studies - Thibault Schrepel, Associate Professor of Law, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Comparative Law Without Comparativists? AI and the Future of Legal Method