Please join us on Tuesday, 1/31/2023 from 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. in Room L28 (Zhu Faculty Workshop Room, Hughes Hall) for a lunchtime panel moderated and presented by Dr. Radwa Elsaman, Adjunct Professor at Cornell Law School and International Development & Rule of Law Consultant, and featuring distinguished guests Dean and Professor Susan L. Karaminian of Hamad Bin Khalifa University College of Law, Legal Consultant Mahmoud Salah of the World Bank Group, and Management Consultant and Technical Advisor Amber Neumann of the Rule of Law Project.

Lunch will be provided during the event, so don’t forget to RSVP!

RSVP here

Please fill out the following short form: https://cornell.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3waRePbOO9HxFPM

Can’t make it to our event in-person? You can attend virtually!

We are also livestreaming the event, so you can sign up to attend the Zoom Webinar at this link: https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_O-rKaqO0QwWe6hiPnuOg0A

Please feel free to distribute the link to anyone you feel would be interested in the seminar. All are welcome!

The Seminar:

Can the MENA Region Meet the Sustainable Development Goals? Several Open Questions

Though many states in the MENA region have substantial wealth and a bustling investment climate due to their oil and gas reserves, many others struggle to establish a future with financial prosperity for their people. In this panel, four scholars and practitioners will discuss sustainable development in MENA. Dr. Radwa Elsaman, Adjunct Professor at Cornell Law School and International Development & Rule of Law Consultant, will start with an overview of the economic, legal, and political challenges in efforts to adopt sustainability in MENA. Dr. Elsaman will describe an underlying struggle that impedes the rule of law from being recognized. Follows Professor Susan L. Karamanian, the Dean of Hamad Bin Khalifa University College of Law, to examine the role of sports, particularly the FIFA World Cup 2022, in promoting SDGs in the region, with a specific focus on the legal legacy. Mahmoud Salah, a legal consultant with the World Bank Group, will summarize the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law Project's findings on the MENA region's regulatory impediments in entrepreneurship and labor force spheres. Finally, Amber Neumann, Rule of Law Project Management Consultant and Technical Advisor, will discuss regional court modernization initiatives, specifically efforts to leverage technology to promote transparency and efficiency. In doing so, Amber will discuss the associated risks and opportunities emergent technologies present to court systems, relevant ethical questions to be explored, and how technologies would be used to advance access to justice actively. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Elsaman, who will also conclude by making a few comments regarding the potential for future development in the region.

About our Distinguished Guests:

Dr. Radwa Elsaman, Adjunct Professor at Cornell Law School and International Development & Rule of Law Consultant

Dr. Radwa Elsaman is a law professor, legal expert, and institutional development professional. She is currently a visiting scholar at Cornell University School of Law and a law professor at Cairo University. She has taught law and conducted academic research at prominent universities throughout the world, including, for example, Boston University and Central European University. Her publications have appeared in worldwide-law journals, such as the University of California Los Angles Pacific Basin Law Journal, Richmond Journal of Global Law, New England Journal of International and Comparative Law, and George Mason Journal of International Brief. She contributes to the Cambridge Handbook on Comparative Law. She is well-known in the Middle East for assisting governments and private sector entities with legal and institutional reform. She has consulted with the World Bank, USAID, the European Investment Bank, the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), the German development agency (GIZ), and the European Union’s Euromed Justice Project. Her professional engagements also include working for the international law firms of Dentons and DLA Piper. Being intensively engaged in community work, particularly in the rule of law and international development fields, she received several awards, including the recognition of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) in Washington, DC. Recently, the Governing Council of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law in Rome (UNIDROIT) appointed her as a Correspondent for Egypt, and LexisNexis nominated her as a judge for the LexisNexis Middle East Women in Law Awards’ Panel. Elsaman received her Masters and Ph.D. in law from the American University’s Washington College of Law in Washington, DC.

Prof., Susan L. Karamanian, the Dean of Hamad Bin Khalifa University College of Law

Susan L. Karamanian is Dean of the College of Law at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University. She was previously Associate Dean for International and Comparative Legal Studies and Burnett Family Professorial Lecturer at the George Washington University Law School and a Partner in Locke Lord LLP in Dallas. She has lectured around the world, including at the Hague Academy of International Law (Director of English Studies). She is a member of the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) (previously ASIL Vice President). She is a Trustee of the Center for American and International Law, a member of the board of directors of Texas Appleseed, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Bar Foundation. Susan is a graduate of the University of Texas (J.D.), Oxford University (B.A. Hons.), where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and Auburn University (B.S.).

Mahmoud Salah, a legal consultant with the World Bank Group

Mahmoud Salaheldin is a legal consultant with the World Bank’s Women, Business, and the Law project. He has broad experience working for the Egyptian judiciary, the International Development Law Organization in Italy, and a leading corporate law firm in Egypt. Mahmoud holds two LL.M degrees from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He is currently an SJD candidate at Central European University in Austria.

Amber Neumann, Rule of Law Project Management Consultant and Technical Advisor

Amber Neumann is the Principal of Neumann Law, a rule of law project consultancy firm with a focus on the Arab region. She is a licensed lawyer, an experienced adjudicator, and a project management professional with over twenty years of experience in the design and delivery of complex, multi-partner projects in Egypt, Libya, Canada, and the United States. Ms. Neumann has practiced public law for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, and has worked with USAID, IDLO, and the UNDP to support rule of law projects in the region.

Her technical focus is on initiatives that increase access to justice in civil and administrative matters by supporting judicial and quasi-judicial systems to be more transparent, more accessible, and more efficient. Ms. Neumann is particularly interested in exploring ways in which alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms and emergent technologies can be used to promote access to justice in the Arab Region. She holds a BA (Honours) from the University of Windsor, and a Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

How to Get Here:

The Zhu Faculty Lounge is on the L level of Hughes Hall in Cornell Law School (the side of the building closest to the gorge).

From Jane Foster Entrance: When entering the Law School through the Jane Foster Front entrance, continue straight through the atrium, past the elevators, slight left and down to the end of the hall, descend the stairs to Level L. The Zhu Faculty Lounge will be down the small set of stairs and to the left (L28).

From the Myron Taylor Hall Entrance: Continue down the hallway in front of you, descend the stairs into the Foyer, and turn left to follow the short hallway past the Registrar. Turn right at the end of the hall and continue down that hallway until you reach the staircase. Descend two levels until you reach level L. The Zhu Faculty Lounge will be down the small set of stairs and to the right (L28).