A new Centre for Law & Development was recently launched within its College of Law (LAWC). The establishment of the new Centre will contribute to building awareness of laws in Qatar and to promoting the exchange of ideas for policy development and implementation.
The new Centre will provide clinical education and training programs especially designed to meet the needs of the Qatari society, and aimed at building national capacity in the field of law in line with the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030.
The Centre currently runs two clinical legal education programs -- an Environmental Law Clinic on climate change and a Trade and Investment Law Clinic, both designed to provide students with the opportunity to work on live cases for real beneficiaries. The Centre is also producing a wide range of publications relevant to legal areas of national economic and environmental development, such as financial regulation, energy, and environmental protection.
The Centre will conduct research projects in areas of interdisciplinary law and policy, which will contribute to promoting national economic growth in a sustainable manner as required by Qatar’s Permanent Constitution and National Development Strategy. The Centre currently manages two research projects funded by the Qatar National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) and designed to build legal capacity in Qatar. The projects are: “Legal Innovation to Empower Development: Designing and Building an Online “TradeLab” in Qatar” (Trade and Investment Legal Advisory Broker) and “Legal Education and the Skills Market in Qatar”. It also runs a range of other research grants related to Qatar’s environmental law, climate change, legal education in Qatar, and Islamic finance. Collectively the grants it manages are worth over $1.5 million.
The Centre includes two divisions: an Energy and Environmental Division and an Economic Development Division. The Energy and Environmental Division seeks to build community awareness of and promote the dissemination of timely and neutral information related to climate and energy challenges while partnering with established multi-stakeholder initiatives to better educate regional consumers and encourage regional businesses to reduce their energy use and carbon footprints. The Economic Development Division seeks to promote efficiency, accessibility, fairness, transparency, and stability of domestic and global financial systems, and stands out as the focal point of financial centers in the region.
Commenting on the establishment of the new Centre, LAWC Dean Dr Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi said: “At Qatar University, we are focusing efforts on developing infrastructure, as well as increasing our research outcomes and the number of training programs to achieve our strategic goals and contribute to realizing the objectives of Qatar National Vision 2030. The Centre for Law & Development is one of those efforts. The Centre will provide research covering many areas of interest that are important to the Qatari society and aimed to achieve Qatar’s sustainable model for economic and human development. Through its training programs, the Centre will also provide our students with invaluable opportunities to uplift their capacities and gain hands-on experiences based on local market needs.”
Centre for Law & Development Director Dr Jon Truby said: “We established an inclusive center which offers activities in a wide range of law-related subjects, and we will work with our faculty and partners to contribute to achieving the legal requirements of Qatar National Vision 2030. Delivering excellence in our law and policy research center requires the highest performance and ambition of our team and partners. Our first priority is to deliver effective solutions for the needs of Qatar, and we are open to build networks and innovate to succeed. The development of Qatar’s economy and industry goes hand-in-hand with environmental protection.”