The «lawyer-architect» as a novel type of professional agency and a product of legal anthropocentrism in the context of the digital revolution in society

Abstract

Introduction. The article presents the results of a study of the development of anthropocentric approaches in Russian philosophical and legal thought, the doctrinal systematization of which can serve as a methodological and axiological basis for transforming the competence based model of a lawyer towards the «lawyer-architect», the key method of which should be the reintegration of various regulators of social relations in the context of digital reality. The conclusion is drawn that it is necessary to incorporate the achievements of legal anthropology into the methodological toolkit of a lawyer. The author attempts to substantiate the need to overcome the epistemological bias in the methodology of law and shift towards its praxeological function. The approaches proposed in the article make it possible to adapt the legal profession to the technologization of society and to build a sovereign, value rich domestic model of legal engineering.The aim of the study is to develop and provide a theoretical and methodological justification for a new competency model of a «lawyer-architect» in the context of the principles of legal anthropocentrism, legal anthropology, and the axiological heritage of domestic philosophical and legal thought.Materials and methods. The theoretical foundation of the study is based on the fundamental works of domestic and foreign researchers in the fields of philosophy and history of law, methodology of law, and legal anthropology (B.N. Chicherin, O.A. Puchkov, V.N. Sinyukov, D.A. Pashentsev, E. Anners, and others), as well as the latest conceptual developments in the field of legal design and anthropocentrism (R.Z. Makhmadiev, S.Yu. Kashkin).The methodological basis of the work is the principles of interdisciplinarity and the combination of theoretical-legal and applied (legal-technical) knowledge. The key research methods used were: praxeological and axiological methods, the method of comparative legal analysis, the ontological approach, and general scientific methods.Results. The axiological and ontological crisis of the paradigm of the competence-based model of the “lawyer-craftsman” is revealed in the face of modern challenges and the latest technologies, including generative AI. In the context of the growing complexity of the normative structure of society, law has shared the regulatory space with software code (“Code as Law”), platform algorithms, and network ethics. The model of the «lawyer-architect» is conceptualized as a reintegrator of various regulators of social relations in the context of the digital revolution. Requirements for the anthropological modernization of legal education have been formulated.Conclusions. The paper substantiates the need to transform the methodology of law from a predominantly epistemological (contemplative) focus towards ontological and praxeological functions. As an axiological basis for the modern lawyer’s understanding of law, it is proposed to establish the principles of legal anthropocentrism, based on the values of the national cultural, legal, and philosophical tradition, which, in the author’s view, can serve as a methodological shield for the autonomy of the individual in the era of digital dehumanization.