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

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Summary
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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.

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A Welcome Visit
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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.

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Focus on Future Judges
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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.)

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ABA Resident Adviser - Looking for Details
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6. Kent Mortimore described his professional experience as
lawyer, prosecutor, and courtroom efficiency trainer. The
Minister was duly impressed, particularly by Mortimore's

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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