JUSTICE MINISTER WELCOMES ABA LEGAL TRAINING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000150 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR ECA/A/E/NEA/SA (JSEDLINS); ECA/P (DIVES) STATE ALSO FOR NEA/PI, NEA/ARPI, NEA/PPD (CWHITTLESEY) ABU DHABI FOR MEPI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KMPI KJUS OEXC SCUL MU SUBJECT: JUSTICE MINISTER WELCOMES ABA LEGAL TRAINING -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. In a January 30 meeting with a visiting delegation from the American Bar Association (ABA),the Minister of Justice provided enthusiastic feedback re a proposed MEPI-funded training program. He recounted the Ministry's plans to develop a judicial training institute, and solicited Embassy and ABA assistance in finding scholarships and advanced legal degree programs in the U.S. for future Omani judges. The Minister welcomed ABA's wish to place a long-term adviser in Muscat, but asked for a written proposal before making any further commitments. End summary. -------------- A Welcome Visit -------------- ¶2. On January 30, Minister of Justice Shaykh Muhammad bin Abdallah al-Hinai received the American Bar Association's (ABA) visiting Middle East Program Director Angela Conway and legal specialist Kent Mortimore to discuss ABA's proposed program of MEPI-funded legal training and assistance in Oman. Conway and Mortimore were accompanied by the DCM, Pol/Econ Chief and Pol FSN (interpreter); the Minister was joined by MOJ's Director of Training Mukhtar bin Khamis al-Hinai. ¶3. After the DCM's introductions and an exchange of expressions of satisfaction over the Embassy-provided training for the MOJ, Angela Conway reviewed the ABA's extensive qualifications and ongoing work in the Middle East, and offered a brief overview of the types of training it might be able to offer to the MOJ and, through the Ministry, to Oman's court system. The Minister offered strong praise for the English language training currently being offered by a USG-funded English Language Fellow. He also noted that Oman's legal system is in large measure a mix of Latin, British and American legal traditions, suiting it well to ABA's strengths. -------------- Focus on Future Judges -------------- ¶4. The Minister described at length the MOJ's plans to develop its own Judicial Training Institute (JTI),with construction set to begin within 12-18 months. The JTI will feature a 2-year program for law graduates and court officers being groomed as future judges; it will not have a permanent faculty, but rather use as instructors both practicing professionals and visiting scholars. Students who fail to pass the course in two years can take an optional third year; the unsuccessful ones will leave the judicial track and enter into other positions within the ministry. Conway noted that ABA is already working with similar judicial training centers in Bahrain, Morocco, and Algeria and would be pleased to help establish Oman's. The Minister was keen to learn how other countries created and run their schools, and to hear ideas on curriculum, organization, and study plans. He also encouraged ABA to consider providing special training in legal English as part of the institute's curriculum. The Minister was clear, however, that there was no reason to delay whatever help ABA could provide the MOJ while waiting for the JTI to germinate. ¶5. As a further part of the MOJ's professional development strategic plan, MOJ would like to send a certain number of select law school graduates to U.S. and Western law schools for advanced degrees (masters, J.D. and Ph.D.). These overseas scholarship programs are written, he said, into the Sultanate's 7th Five-Year Development Plan. He solicited ABA and the Embassy's help in providing a study of the top U.S. law school programs, their respective costs, and how the enrollment process would work, noting that the number of students that the Omani government could fund annually would be determined by each program's expense. He also looked to the Embassy and ABA to fund 2-3 scholarships for these future judges each year, repeating the point several times during the meeting. (The Embassy will consider nominating an MOJ employee for the Fulbright Foreign Student Program.) -------------- ABA Resident Adviser - Looking for Details -------------- ¶6. Kent Mortimore described his professional experience as lawyer, prosecutor, and courtroom efficiency trainer. The Minister was duly impressed, particularly by Mortimore's MUSCAT 00000150 002 OF 002 background in helping to computerize courtrooms. He said the Omani government's e-government drive had not yet extended to Omani courts, but that was MOJ's ambition and a great need. Using modern technology, he noted, would improve information-sharing between the courts and law enforcement, and tidy up legal procedures. Mortimore's background, therefore, made him a perfect candidate for helping the ministry move forward in its courtroom automation plans. ¶7. For its part, ABA was keen to win the MOJ's agreement to provide official sponsorship of Mr. Mortimore that would allow him to remain in Oman for 8-9 months to implement and supervise ABA's legal training. After exchanges on how this might be accomplished (the Minister noted that an employment contract was not an option as Mortimore was not being paid by the MOJ),the Minister promised his staff would examine the issue more thoroughly but that, in the meantime, MOJ would like to see ABA's written proposal for what training program Mortimore would propose to undertake. ABA agreed to provide such a document in short order, and looked forward to MOJ's feedback on reaching a mutually agreed action plan. (The Embassy, meanwhile, is following up with Mukhtar al-Hinai on the visa and sponsorship issue.) BALTIMORE