USAID/DPK

U.S. Ambassador Hans Klemm joins university officials to cut a ribbon at the new USAID-funded moot courtroom at Al Biruni University.

University law and shari’a students can now practice and refine advocacy skills in new moot courtrooms opened today at Al Biruni University in Kapisa Province. Combined with recent national efforts to unify and reform its curriculum, the university also boasts of a newly opened legal clinic. These efforts will help put Al-Biruni University on par with other major Afghanistan national and international institutions of higher education and will address the legal needs of the Afghan people in Kapisa and surrounding provinces.

The opening of the legal clinic highlighted the recent achievements made by the university in furthering the quality of legal education for students and assisting the local community with its legal needs through advice and outreach. The legal clinic and moot courtrooms will provide law and shari’a students with direct experience in legal representation, as well as a venue to practice advocacy skills, both of which are essential in bridging the gap between classroom lectures and actual practice.

U.S. Ambassador Hans G. Klemm, Coordinating Director for Rule of Law and Law Enforcement, emphasized

USAID/DPK

Law school students at Al Biruni University practice oral argument skills at the new moot courtroom.

his country’s commitment to improving the rule of law and the justice sector in Afghanistan through support for the country’s institutions of legal education. Ambassador Klemm identified USAID’s support for legal education as one of many programs aimed at improving the capacity of the Afghan Government to provide justice to Afghan citizens.

USAID, which facilitated this event, helps to develop the human and institutional capacity of the justice sector, increase the public’s access to justice, particularly women, and promote the public’s demand for a robust rule of law environment in Afghanistan.

2011.11.30 Press Release Al Biruni University