oa Guest Foreword by Lord Phillips KG PC

The Rt Hon The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers KG PC, President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Ambition and excellence. Those two words epitomize Qatar. Under the leadership of his Highness the Emir, this small State has set out to make an impact on the world that belies its size. Ambitious was the plan to have an international broadcasting station. Ambitious was the plan to build from scratch a Museum of Islamic Art. Ambitious was the bid – the successful bid to host the World Cup in 2022. Ambitious is the bid to stage the Olympic Games in 2020. Qatar not merely has ambitions, it realizes its ambitions. And when it does so it is not enough to say that the result is ‘world class’, for Qatar sets out to be a world leader in whatever it puts its hand to. Excellence is the norm. Al Jazeera has established itself as the broadcasting station of choice for many throughout the world. The Doha Museum of Islamic Art is recognized as being second to none. In addition, the scale and standard of development in Doha itself is setting new standards of excellence in the fields of architecture and civil engineering.

Thus when Qatar focuses its energies on education and the law, high achievements are expected. I shall have the honour of helping to achieve those expectations when I succeed Lord Woolf as President of Qatar’s new and impressive Civil and Commercial Court. The College of Law at Qatar University is already achieving excellence in the field of legal education. So, naturally, all expect great things of this new International Review of Law and I am delighted to have been invited to welcome it by this foreword.

The range of the first edition is both international and topical. Those countries that have experienced the turbulence of the Arab Spring are settling new constitutions, and other countries are bent on constitutional reform designed to avoid such turbulence. So an erudite article on constitution-making could not come at a better time. For a country about to embark on a $200 billion construction program, an article on identifying and managing risk in international construction projects is tailor made. Cross-border sales and the corporate opportunity doctrine are two further topics that will be of interest to a wide range of commercial lawyers. All these are weighty articles of obvious contemporary relevance. For those who seek a little light relief, Carol Tan’s article on Colonial Cleansing is a delightful and fascinating historical excursion into the efforts of British colonial rule to clean up a holiday resort in the leased territory of Weihaiwei in China.

The College of Law’s new project is ambitious and this is a splendid start to the excellence that must be its aim.