Presidents and representatives from several bar associations in the Arab world, including Libya, Jordan, Tunisia, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Palestine, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, and Germany, participated in the workshop.
The first day started with opening speeches by Mr. Philipp Bremer, Director of the Rule of Law Program Middle East and North Africa, by Mr. Andre Haug, Vice President of the German Federal Bar Association and the President of the Jordanian Bar Association, Mr. Yahya Abo Aboud.
The event continued with the first session "Networking of Lawyers", where all participants introduced themselves.
Here, among other things, it was discussed how lawyers can best expand their network. In this context, it was also directly addressed what larger potential networks could be, both locally and regionally, and what initiatives might be worthwhile.
Later, current challenges of the legal profession and specifically of the respective bar associations in the countries were discussed. Here, participants were able to exchange ideas on various approaches to solving the problem.
Many lawyers emphasized the value of the workshop also with regard to the fact that not every country and, using the example of this subject area, every bar association always has to develop a new model of how it operates, but that despite all the differences between the countries there are similar challenges in the current age. The participants agreed that this includes digitalization, which was also seen during the pandemic.
The third session of the first day dealt with the topic of cross-border legal disputes and here, among other things, with the questions of how to handle disputes that arise at the national and international level.
The day then concluded with a reception at the residence of the German Ambassador to Jordan, where conference participants were able to exchange ideas and expand their network.
The second day started with a session on ethical issues of the legal profession and the responsibility of professionals in this field.
Then continued with a session on administrative procedures for lawyers and courts. Here, regional and national comparisons were made, potential difficulties were considered, and how to learn from each other was discussed.
The second day was rounded off by final presentations by Mr. Philipp Bremer and Mr. Riad Khalil Hassanain, who spoke on behalf of the German Federal Bar Association.
KAS-RSPNO team: Philipp Bremer, Salam Alzahran, Maximilian Lüderwaldt