Of all the Arab Uprisings which took place, the revolution in Egypt stands out due to the notably legalistic tone it has taken on. For nearly four years, political battles there have mainly been fought in the courts. Judges are seen more and more as enemies of the people, and the lawsuits filed to defend the separation of powers or judicial independence have often been viewed as counter-revolutionary maneuvers. The Shakespearean call to kill all lawyers has never been so strongly felt since the times of Henry VI. The emancipating potential of liberalism as an ideology and lawyers as their governing elite is stirring up old anxieties. And therefore the following question has returned: Can the Law and revolution be compatible?

  

Amr Shalakany will be dealing with these questions through an exploration of the historical relationship between liberal legality and revolution in Egypt, from Nasser to today, and including the January 25th revolution. It is based on his book about the modern history of the legal establishment elite in Egypt, recently published in Arabic.

Amr Shalakany is an associate professor of Law at the American University of Cairo (AUC) and was a distinguished Aga Khan visiting professor of Islamic Humanities at Brown University during the first semester of 2013. He holds a joint appointment at the University of Cairo’s Law School. Shalakany teaches in the fields of Comparative Private Law, Islamic Law and History of Law. Before joining the AUC, he was the Jeremiah Smith assistant visiting professor at Harvard Law School. Prior to that, he was a legal advisor of the Unit for supporting PLO negotiations in Ramallah, and he taught at the University of Birzeit, where he helped to establish the Legal Assistance Clinic at the Institute of Law. He has also practiced as a securities lawyer with  Baker & McKenzie  law firm in London. Shalakany earned his university degrees in Law at the University of Cairo, as well as a doctorate in Legal Sciences at Harvard Law School. He is an admitted member of the New York Bar Association.

Related links: