The Middle East Rule of Law Initiative officially began in January 2002 when a group of legal reformers from Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Bahrain came to California. The original exchange was based on two objectives: to familiarize the Middle Eastern participants with civil justice reform mechanisms used in the U.S. courts and to foster an exchange of ideas between the delegates about the reforms that are currently ongoing in their respective countries. From January 12th to the 19th, the Middle East Legal Exchange study group worked in the California state and federal courts. The delegates observed civil justice legal proceedings, listened to presentations by various judges, attorneys, and other legal professionals, and participated in roundtable discussions. By the end of the program the group had a strong grasp of civil justice reform mechanisms, including case management, mediation, and Early Neutral Evaluation (ENE) mechanisms.

With an eye to expanding the program initiative, in June of 2002 ISDLS sent attorney Howard Allen to Oman and United Arab Emirates (UAE) to conduct meetings with potential study group members and to introduce those individuals to ISDLS’ legal reform methodology. Representatives from both countries expressed strong interest in the project, and agreed to participate in future exchange programs.

Events in the Middle East prevented the next phase, a conference, from being held immediately after the first exchange. However, from June 30 to July 2, 2003, ISDLS was able to successfully conduct the planned Middle East Rule of Law Conference at Bilgi University in Istanbul, Turkey. The participating countries included Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Bahrain, UAE, Yemen, and Oman. In addition, a French Magistrate was present in order to offer his expertise on the reform of civil law systems (many if not most Middle Eastern countries have legal systems inherited from the French, dating back to the colonial period). Six ISDLS legal team faculty members were present to orchestrate the various programs, which included a day spent on each of three topics: civil and criminal justice reform, and human rights. The ISDLS faculty was delighted when the Egyptian delegates, who have already successfully implemented both civil and criminal justice reforms through a collaborative reform project with ISDLS, and the Jordanian delegates, who have also worked extensively on an independent civil justice reform project with ISDLS, took the lead at the conference. The two countries not only proved that such reform activities are economically and culturally feasible in the region, but they also sparked a good deal of discussion and brought genuine spirit to the conference. (Conference Report)

The success of the MEROL conference in Istanbul inspired ISDLS to form a joint U.S.-Egyptian-Jordanian faculty that will consult in the current civil justice modernization initiatives in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. By drawing upon the experience of the experts involved in the Egyptian and Jordanian initiatives, ISDLS hopes to accelerate the design and implementation of civil justice modernizations in the four Arab Gulf countries.