UW to create law program for Afghan teachers

SEATTLE – The University of Washington School of Law has been awarded a $2 million State Department grant to establish a graduate program for Afghan law professors.

The grant will pay for a three-year project designed to help rebuild Afghanistan’s legal profession. Afghan lawyers will spend one year in Seattle to learn about the U.S. legal system as visiting scholars or master’s of laws candidates.

In collaboration with Kabul University Law School, project director Veronica Taylor, a professor at the UW Asian Law Center, and others will select an initial group of 15 people from the Afghan school’s Islamic law departments.

“One of our main objectives is to find out what program participants really need, and give them the tools to occupy a pivotal position in the development of their legal system,” Taylor said.