This study proposes an innovative functional approach to teaching notarial English to law students, demonstrating its effectiveness through a classroom experiment with Uzbek law students. Results show a 43% improvement in drafting accuracy for students taught with Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) methods compared to only 12% for the control group. The research highlights how explicit instruction in genre conventions, modality, and speech acts enhances students' pragmatic competence in legal drafting. Additionally, the article addresses significant cross-cultural challenges by comparing notarial conventions across civil and common law systems, offering practical adaptations for multilingual classrooms. The findings provide valuable insights for legal English educators working in diverse juridical contexts.

Notarial discourse, legal English, cross-cultural pedagogy, systemic functional grammar, genre-based teaching.

Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analyzing genre: Language use in professional settings. Longman.

Halliday, M. A. K. (1985). An introduction to functional grammar*. Edward Arnold.

Šarčević, S. (1997). New approach to legal translation. Kluwer Law International. DOI:10.1007/978-94-015-8977-4 (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8977-4)

Khamidova, D. (2016). Linguistic features of legal Uzbek in notarial documents. Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, 8(2), 134-150.

Kodirov, A. (2020). Legal English education in Uzbekistan: Challenges and solutions. TESOL Central Asia Journal, 4(1), 22-39.

Uzbekistan Presidential Decree No.UP-5598 (2018). On measures to improve notarial services.

Council of Europe (2021). Guidelines for plain legal language in notarial acts. https://rm.coe.int/plain-legal-language-en/1680a2c3a1

UNESCO (2018). Legal language simplification handbook.

https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000265532

International Notary Association (2022). Model notarial clauses in English.

https://www.uinl.org/model-clauses

Lex.uz (https://lex.uz): "Notarial hujjatlar" (notarial documents) and "Fuqarolik ishlari hujjatlari" (civil case documents).