Kirkuk College of Law and American Law School initiate cooperation and exchange

Kirkuk Governor Abdulrahman Mustafa Fattah congratulates Professor Hugg on the signing in Kirkuk City.

April 27, 2010, Kirkuk -- On April 26, Kirkuk University's College of Law welcomed Professor Patrick Hugg of Loyola University Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, for a historic visit to Kirkuk to sign a groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions. The visit and the development of the MOU were facilitated by the Rule of Law section of the Kirkuk Provincial Reconstruction Team of the US Embassy in Iraq.

The MOU recognizes the shared goal of the American and Iraqi partners to effectively educate students in today's globalized and changing world and notes the important role ascribed to legal education in this new century.  Under the memorandum, the universities agree to advance and promote good will and to further their increased cooperation by offering international educational opportunities to their students while advancing faculty cooperation, exchanges, research, and visits, as well as other forms of collaboration.

While specific programs and activities between Kirkuk and Loyola Universities are still to be developed, Professor Hugg and Dean of the Kirkuk College of Law Dr. Fared Jassam Hamood Al-Qaysi, both expressed high hopes for the initiative and stated that such programs are vital to the development of a mature, long-term, substantive partnership between the American and Iraqi governments, institutions and people.

Professor Hugg also met with the attorneys from the Kirkuk Jurists Union to discuss legal education in the US and the role of attorneys as mentors in that effort.  On April 27, Kirkuk Governor Abdurrahman Mustafa Fattah hosted Professor Hugg, Dr. Farid, Kirkuk PRT Team Leader Gabriel Escobar and members of the PRT's Rule of Law section to congratulate the institutions on their new relationship and to encourage additional academic and professional partnerships and exchanges between Americans and Kirkukis.  He also noted the importance of the rule of law to Iraq's democracy, development and security.

Professor Hugg thanked his Iraqi hosts for their generosity and opennessto cooperation, and said, "This relationship with the Kirkuk College of Law is very important to Loyola University, and we believe that there is much that we can share and learn from your students and professors to help us improve legal education in both countries.  Loyola and I are both honored to have been invited here and hope that this is only the first of many such visits and exchanges."