The Center started teaching classes in its Master of Laws Program in the fall of 1996. 25 students have enrolled in the program, but some students from Gaza have not been able to attend classes due to Israeli restrictions.
At present, all Palestinian lawyers have studied in foreign law schools (mostly in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria) and so have not studied the laws of Palestine. Therefore the Masters Program will focus on teaching these laws, as well as comparative law, and will have an initial focus on business law.
Also, most Arabic law schools do not teach practical skills such as oral advocacy, legal writing and the use of information technology to search legal information. The Masters Program will also focus on these skills, especially since many of the students will actually be practicing lawyers, who can put these skills to immediate use.
The reason the Law Center will start with a Master of Laws Program
instead of a regular Bachelors of Laws program is that the immediate
need in Palestine is not more lawyers, but better trained and
educated lawyers. It is also hoped that the graduates of the
Master of Laws Program will become the legal experts of the future,
as well as being able to assist with teaching future classes of
Palestinian law students.