Yesterday, Monday ,January 9, 2023, Lawyers for Justice signed a memorandum of understanding with the legal clinic at the Faculty of Law and Public Administration at Birzeit University, for the purposes of defining the foundations of joint cooperation between the two parties, and in particular the mechanisms of working with the legal clinic unit in the college.

The memorandum was signed by the representative of Birzeit University, Dr. Mahmoud Dodin / Dean of the Faculty of Law, and a representative of the Lawyers for Justice group, Lawyer Muhannad Karajah / Director of the group, in the presence of Lawyer Thafer Saida from the group. head of the law department, Dr. Muhammad Al-Qaisi. And assistant professor dean Noor Matour.  The supervisor of the legal clinic, professor Muhammad Khader. And research and teaching assistants in the legal clinic.

Dr. Dodin welcomed representatives of the “Lawyers for Justice” group, and pointed out the importance of signing this memorandum, in addition to the importance and role of the group in defending cases of political and administrative detention, especially defending the cases of Birzeit University students. He also asserted that this memorandum is the culmination of continuous cooperation between the college and the group. For his part, lawyer Muhannad highlighted the importance of the partnership with Birzeit University in enhancing and developing the students’ practical skills, in addition to spreading the societal legal culture, specifically in the field of political and administrative detention cases. He also referred to the reality and contribution of the legal clinic students in working on the cases that the group is currently working on.

In his turn, Lawyer Thafer commented on the practical reality and issues of political detention and the role of the various State Apparatuses in these cases, and pointed out the importance of concerted efforts to discuss these issues from different angles, and the role of the diverse academic environment in providing the foundations for this discussion. Muhammad Al-Khidr asserted the importance of the Memorandum of Understanding between the two parties in defining the clinic’s strategies and work mechanisms in implementing its activities in a way that leads to achieving its goals and objectives, and pointed to the clinic’s role in creating different communication channels between the academic and applied community sides, in order to qualify students and achieve their benefits.

For his part, the Head of the Law Department, Dr. Al-Qaisi stated that this memorandum will be a basis for developing the benefits and relationship with the Lawyers for Justice group, whether in terms of developing students’ abilities or in terms of developing the academic path of the college, and this partnership will be taken into account when reviewing the plans and activities of the department in the future.

It is noteworthy that strengthening the relationship with the legal clinic at Birzeit University aims to expand the areas of future cooperation and comes within the framework of the institutionalization of the legal clinic which activities are supported by the United Nations Development Program, the Sawasya 2 project, and helps in enhancing its ability to provide legal services to vulnerable groups and also to develop students’ practical skills through their participation in programs based on dealing with real issues and developing legal and human rights initiatives in order to strengthen the rule of law and respect for human rights, monitoring fair trial guarantees, confronting human rights violations, advocating human rights issues.

Lawyers for Justice

January 10, 2023

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