GAJE was a cooperating partner with The Protection Project at The Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (Washington, DC) in organizing the “Middle East Regional Colloquium on Clinical Legal Education: Developing Clinical Programs and Expanding Access to Justice,” which took place outside Amman, Jordan, on 27-28 May 2012.  The colloquium was the first forum of its kind in the Middle East, and was aimed at generating interest in clinical legal education in the region and building the capacity of faculties of law in the region to establish and develop new, or expand and enhance existing, clinical programs.

Invitees included law teachers from established clinics throughout the Middle East, as well as from universities in the region that do not yet have clinical programs but have an expressed interest in clinical legal education.  The colloquium covered six main topics, “Clinical Legal Education: Philosophy, Foundations, and Aims,” “The Global Clinical Movement: National, Regional and International Cooperation and Exchange,” “Clinical Legal Education in Civil Law Jurisdictions,” “Clinical Legal Education and Transitions to Democracy,” “Beyond Client Representation: The Advocacy Role of Legal Clinics,” “Ethics and Professional Responsibility,” “Clinical Methodologies: Theory and Interactive Exercises,” and “Clinical Legal Education in the Middle East: Past, Present and Future – An Open Discussion.”

The conference was chaired by Mohamed Mattar, Executive Director of The Protection Project.  Among the featured speakers were GAJE members Diego Blázquez-Martín, Frank Bloch, Filip Czernicki, José García Añón, Catherine Klein, Bruce Lasky, Mohammad Mahdi Meghdadi, David McQuoid-Mason, Mizanur Rahman, Lina Shabeeb, Seehaam Samaai, Rick Wilson, and Leah Wortham.