Past Trainings

On 2-27 July 2017, CRCICA held the first Arabic-language Basic Legal Skills Course under the CRCICA/ABA Distinguished Lawyers CLE Program functioning since October 2016 in continuation of the ABA ROLI’s CLE scheme in Egypt which, ran under the US AID funds, from 2009 until September 2016. As of October 2016, ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ROLI) and CRCICA started a new partnership to deliver self-funded CLE trainings for young lawyers in Egypt under the co-administration of both institutions. The Basic Legal Skills Course is one of the most important component of the Program, featuring 7 training modules, each focuses on one basic legal skill; client interviewing, legal analysis, legal writing, negotiation, contract drafting, oral advocacy, and arbitration. At the end of the course, trainees participated at a moot arbitration. The course was delivered by seven qualified trainers all have passed the ABA’s Training of Trainers Course. Nine volunteering arbitrator ran the moot. Attendees were a mixture of junior practicing lawyers, legal interns, fresh graduates and some law students. It is worth noting that CRCICA exclusively developed a detailed course administration manual with comprehensive guiding documents, evaluation forms, and systematic guiding instructions to insure smooth administration of the course in all its stages and provide utmost benefit for current and future ABA ROLI courses' attendees.

(equivalent to CIArb Module 1: Law of Obligations and Civil Evidence), July 2017:

CRCICA has been approved as a Recognized Course Provider authorized to provide training courses qualifying for the membership of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb). By virtue of this one of the kind stance in the whole Arab region, CRCICA is entitled to hold both CIArb modules; Module I: Law of obligations and Civil Evidence which prepares candidates having no legal background to participate at Module 2: Law of Arbitration. Candidates are then entitled to apply for the CIArb membership. On 10-15 July 2017, CRCICA held, for the second time, Module 1: Law of Obligations and Civil Evidence under the customized thematic approach “The Contract and the Rules of Responsibility and Evidence”. This tailored course stroke a unique balance between local and regional practices and jurisdictions on one side and international law and practices on the other. The Course was tutored by Dr. Ismail Selim, CRCICA Director, and Dr. Dalia Hussein, CRCICA Deputy Director. 27 Participants were in attendance and were mostly contract managers, contract specialists, contract engineers, and cost engineers. Participants were guided through PowerPoint presentations, writings of famous scholars in the field, court decisions and practical examples, through the process of making, performing and terminating contracts. The curriculum included: (I) General Introduction to Law- Sources of Obligations- Making of Contracts- Terms of Contracts; (II) Privity of contract- Interpretation of contract- performance- remedies for breach- Termination; (III) Tort and Evidence Law. The program addressed a general introduction to law, explained the meaning of the legal rule and the hierarchy of norms, and focused on contract law and evidence law from a civil law perspective. The program also addressed tort law, as well as elements of liability for tort and for breach of contract. The conditions of the liability in both cases are similar and treated by famous scholars in the same chapters, the sole difference being the element of the fault. Evidence as applied before courts and arbitral tribunals under Egyptian Law was also addressed. Assessments consisted of two sections; the first one involved two questions and a mock case in evidence law and tort law. The second section consisted of a complicated mock case including issues related to contractual terms, interpretation and performance of contracts, breach of contractual obligations and remedies thereto and limitation on liability and its conditions. Assessment aimed at showing candidates’ level of understanding as well as their ability to present and express their views in law of obligations, evidence and tort law as well as to apply the knowledge they acquired to analyze facts and legal issues and to suggest the best solutions for them. The Course was well received as it, quoting a participant, "provides the sophisticated legal background non-legal contract managers inevitably need to well perform their duties and avoid contractual risks”.

On 3rd April 2017, CRCICA hosted and organized, in cooperation with the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), the Second Consultative Workshop on "Cooperation Among African Arbitral Initiatives". The Workshop represented an opportunity for discussing and concretizing the resolutions of the First Workshop held in Mauritius on 11 May 2016 aiming at laying a foundation for stronger cooperation among arbitral institutions and reviewing arbitration initiatives in Africa. The program of the CRCICA Workshop introduced four separate parallel sessions approaching how far progress was achieved by working groups in the following issues: formation of the umbrella organization, education and training, access to information initiatives, and technical assistance. Report-backs were delivered by working groups at the end of discussions. Ongoing work of 1-ARB Africa was also presented shedding light on the progress in establishing the Archive of Historical Cases involving African Parties from 1990 to 2000. The Workshop was coordinated by Ms. Lise Bosman; ICCA Executive Director and attended by 22 participants representing ICCA's Working Group including some Governing Board members among whom are Mrs. Funke Adekoya, Dr. Mohamed Abdel Raouf and Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf. Closing remarks reflected a common consensus on harmonizing and enhancing regional and continental cooperation among existing capacity -building initiatives.

The CRCICA and the ABA ROLI jointly organized a career development training entitled “Your Guide to Mastering Client Relationships  the Customers’ Perspective”. Delivered by Mr. Ayman Essam, Director of Legal & External Affairs, Vodafone Egypt, the training marked the first event in a sustainable CRCICA/ABA ROLI Continuing Legal Education Scheme. This training was designed to help lawyers of law firms to know their clients, embrace their needs, fulfill their expectations and thus ensure client loyalty and improve billing and collections process. The instructor used interactive methods of presentation and thought-provoking quizzes. After the presentation, there was a Q & A session followed by a legal memo “reconstruction” exercise. The scope of the training included ways to bridge the gap between law firms and clients; lawyers’ “soft skills”; behavioral performance of law firms to meet clients’ emotional needs; the importance of improving industry understanding; best practices for billing; improving service quality: lessons and practice from an insider’s view; client retention strategies and the importance and methods to measure clients’ satisfaction. The training ended by a case Study and practical exercise.

The Cairo Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the CRCICA co-organized the First Course on “Expert Witness in International Commercial Arbitration” on 24 October 2016, Cairo, Egypt. The Course was jointly delivered by Mrs. Aisha Nadar, Member of FIDIC Executive Committee (EC) and Senior Consultant, Construction Contracts and Dispute Resolution, Advokatfirman Runeland AB Stockholm, Sweden and Mr. Per Runeland, Senior Counsel, Advokat Setterwalls, Stokcholm, Sweden. It presented a combination of lecture, Q & A and interactive exercises. The masterpiece of the course was a mock cross-examination in which one tutor cross-examined the other in a highly demonstrative manner to present the several different approaches to cross examination, including head-on and collateral attack.