Legal education as development

Abstract

In 2003, I found myself at the Kabul Intercontinental Hotel, a shabby relic of the 1960s famous for surviving rocket attacks, the occasional murder, and intermittent power and water. I led a multinational team with a mandate to educate Afghan law professors about �modern� law. This includes the m�lange that is now their own law: a hasty overlay of donor-assisted laws from post-2001 reconstruction that have yet to be integrated with Afghanistan�s existing statutes, shari�a and customary legal systems.1 31 million people, 34 provinces, 35 languages (none of which I speak), all in a country �slightly smaller than Texas.�2 Landing in Kabul tends to make you ask questions like �What am I doing here?� This chapter in memory of Malcolm Smith is a partial answer. Show more