Member Details

Name Hamad Bin Khalifa University
Address PO Box 34110, Doha, Qatar, QATAR
Join Date 07/05/2025
Website https://www.hbku.edu.qa/en/cl
Founded in 2015, the Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) College of Law is a graduate-level law school located in Qatar Foundation’s Education City. It was established under a strategic partnership between Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and HBKU to provide a world class legal education in the Middle East. Classes are in English and guided by the common law, civil law and Sharia.

Offering the only Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in the MENA region, the HBKU Law curriculum aligns with that of leading US and European law schools. Emphasis is on the most dynamic sectors of a society, including dispute resolution, energy, environment, finance, healthcare, infrastructure, international investment and trade, media, sports, and technology.

Complementing the JD degree are two master of laws (LL.M.) programs: International Law and Foreign Affairs; and International Economic and Business Law. Of further note is the College’s Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) degree, mirrored on the US model and one of the few of its kind outside of the United States.

The College prepares graduates to contribute positively to shaping the legal profession and society in Qatar and beyond. Classes are limited in size so that students receive individual attention. J.D.

graduates have pursued LL.M. degrees at Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Duke Law School, NYU School of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and the Graduate Institute Geneva. The College is equally proud of its alumni who work in the legal and related professions, including in Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

In addition to a rigorous curriculum that focuses on contemporary problems, the College is recognized for the high quality of its faculty. Faculty members routinely publish books and book chapters with top legal publishers, including Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press, as well as articles in leading law journals. Faculty scholarship has received recognition for excellence by the American Society of International Law and the Socio-Legal Studies Association and led to collaborations with leading institutions, including Cambridge University, University of Athens, Singapore Management University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Georgetown University in Qatar, to name just some. Two faculty members hold prestigious chairs, namely the HBKU UNESCO Chair on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Chair.

Service is another defining feature of the College, with faculty members holding senior positions in the American Society of International Law, Asian Society of International Law, the International Law Association, the World Association of Medical Law, and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights. As home to the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers in Middle East and North African Universities, the College has helped build teaching capacity in environmental law throughout the MENA region.