Asian Law Center
Afghan Legal Educators Project
Initiated in 2005, the University of Washington’s Afghan Legal Educators Program (UW-ALEP) is a collaborative effort of the United States Department of State (INL), the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education, and the Shari’a and Law and Political Science faculties of major Afghan universities. It is implemented by the Asian Law Center at the University of Washington School of Law. UW-ALEP aims to strengthen legal institutions in Afghanistan by offering education opportunities to law professors and professionals who will become legal educators in future. We have proudly partnered with fifteen faculties at nine public universities in Afghanistan. Participant study takes place in Afghanistan and at the University of Washington in Seattle.
To date UW-ALEP has given almost 60 Afghan law professors and graduates the opportunity to study at UW. Soon 18 UW-ALEP participants will have successfully completed the LLM program. UW continues to develop innovative programming, including semi-annual Academic Legal English programs in Afghanistan for professors and upper level students from all fifteen faculties.
Since 2009, seventeen professors and recent graduates from Afghanistan have participated in the Law School’s Tribal Court Criminal Defense Clinic. Working directly with JD students on active cases under faculty supervision, participants have gained firsthand knowledge of tribal laws and the relationship of tribal courts to our state and federal court systems. UW-ALEP participants also work closely with UW Law clinical faculty to gain an instructor’s perspective and learn how to run law school-based legal clinics that can be replicated in Afghanistan.
UW-ALEP is staffed by Project Director Professor Jon Eddy, Project Administrator Alice Stokke, Project Assistant Rika Valdman and country expert Professor Clark Lombardi.
Project Resources