Lawyers celebrate English Web site launch

  By Jessy Chahine

  Daily Star staff

  BEIRUT: The first English Web site of its kind, www.lebaneselaws.com featuring Lebanese laws and regulations, was launched at the Syndicate of Lebanese Lawyers in Beirut.

  Lebanese lawyers met to "praise" this achievement and described it as "a positive step towards the modernization and the computerization of the Lebanese law system."

  "This Web site would allow internet browsers, law specialists and English readers from all around the world to have a clearer perspective of what the Lebanese law is all about," said Salim Osta, head of the Syndicate of Lebanese Lawyers.

  "This endeavor eventually opens new doors in front of the Lebanese society with its legal and economic sectors," Osta said, adding that this Web site would eventually put Lebanon on the international map, given the prevalence of English worldwide.

  Osta also said that this Web site was a first because, so far, most legal texts and references in Lebanon were either in French or in Arabic.

  "It [the Web site] would also facilitate interaction with the Anglophone world, especially given the increasing interest in entering the Lebanese business world."

  Justice Minister Khaled Qabbani said that such a Web site was of "utmost importance" given that the internet was the "most efficient communication means nowadays."

  Commenting on Qabbani's intervention, Adnan Kassar, chair of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture said that "internet has indeed proven to be the fastest and most comprehensive communication facility nowadays, so that is why such a Web site is eyed with awe."

  Joseph Adib Sader, chief executive officer of Sader Legal Publishers elaborated on the Web site's content.

  "The Web site will begin by featuring the most important Lebanese laws and regulations translated into English," he said, "but later on, the Web site will encompass every single local law with examples of judicial cases and trials. We are aiming for it to become a legal reference for Lebanon and the region."

  Financially sponsored by USAID and AMIDEAST, www.lebaneselaws.com was referred to by Raouf Youssef, USAID representative as a "transparent and informative legal tool for all law researchers and specialists around the world."

  "Last but not least, this Web site is hopefully going to spread knowledge about the Lebanese laws among the Lebanese diaspora especially among non-Arabic speaking emigrants," Youssef said, adding that such a Web site would make legal information accessible for everyone.

  (Daily Star, July 08 2005- www.dailystar.com.lb )