At 9:30 am, the conference started with a welcoming speech from the head of the Rule of Law Progamme Middle East and North Africa at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Mr. Philipp Bremer. He introduced the attendees to the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, its programs in Lebanon and in the region. Mr. Bremer stated: “I believe in the rule of law. In law as a whole. And I believe in lawyers. Young aspiring ones especially”, highlighting the importance of technology in helping maintaining the rule of law.

Then, Mr. Antoine Kanaan, the Editor in Chief of the Lebanon Law Review and the Director of HAQQ took the stage and the last opening remark was held by the member of the Lebanese parliament Dr. Ghada Ayoub.

The conference was divided into 2 panels:

The first panel discussed the digitization in the fight against corruption, in addition to the digital means to transmit legal information more effectively.

The second panel discussed the digitization of law in practical business practices exploring the gap between static laws and dynamic business practices.

The first panel was made up of Mr. Maximilian Steinbeis - Founder and Chief Editor of the Verfassungsblog, Dr. Dany Ghsoub - Acting Dean of the faculty of law and political science at the Notre Dame University and Mr. Assaad Thebian - Executive Director of Gherbal Initiative.

The second panel was made up of Dr. Anatoli van der Krans - Director of European Relations at Berstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP and Mr. Rizwan Mughal - Partner at Mezzle Law.

The main purpose of the conference was to encourage and support those that believe in solving current problems, believe in the rule of law and those that are willing to work for it now more than ever. The diverse vocations of each panelist gave a multi-faceted approach that effectively covered the entire process - from Legislation to Academia to the best practices in communicating legal knowledge to the people at large.

To point out, each panel was followed by a Q & A session and a lively discussion. At this point the whole day conference came to an end. All the guests and speakers were invited for a lunch reception and a group photo.

Furthermore, it wouldn’t be possible for this great event to end without having a roundtable discussion, which is exactly what happened on Saturday the 13th of August – a closed roundtable for 25 selected key members of the Lebanon Law Review with Dr. Anatoli van der Krans and Mr. Maximilian Steinbeis was held.