Plans are under way at Qatar University College of Law to establish its first legal clinic, with a focus on family violence, thanks to the intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm of graduate Muna al-Marzouqi.Students in the clinic will draft a proposed law making family violence a criminal offence, in line with the Qatar National Development Strategy (2011-2016) target to create a comprehensive system to reduce the incidence of family violence.The students are also to present their coursework to government policy and decision makers.“All credit should go to graduate Muna for singularly inspiring the creation of the Domestic Violence Project,” Marlana Valdez, programme director at American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA/ROLI) Qatar, said yesterday.In early 2011, when Muna agreed to attend a meeting to assist with Arabic-English translation, she had no idea that her small act of volunteerism would have a huge impact for the young women of Qatar University College of Law. At the time she was a fourth-year graduating law student at the college. For several years, QU has worked in partnership with ABA/ROLI to improve legal education opportunities in Qatar and to develop special projects relating to women’s legal issues. The newly-arrived Valdez, had scheduled a meeting with a Qatari organisation, and speaking no Arabic, needed a translator, and Muna was recommended.Before attending the meeting, Muna wanted to learn more about the meeting’s topic - family violence. Valdez gave her a brief tutorial and two days the student returned to the former’s office after having researched incidents of family violence in Qatar, and found studies that showed a disturbing increase in the rate of violence against women and children over the past seven years. Muna had never heard this subject discussed in Qatar and she asked a number of questions such as how could so many people be so affected with no public attention given to their situation.Continuing her studies at the college, Muna then asked Valdez whether a project could be created to educate law students at QU about domestic violence. Her colleagues had great enthusiasm for the idea, prompting the creation of the Domestic Violence Project. About 15 female students met weekly throughout the spring semester, and under Valdez’s coaching, herself an ex-family law professor in the US, learned about the legal, social, and relational aspects of family violence. The Domestic Violence Project continues this fall with students developing a class that they will present to other QU students. The class will discuss the prevalence of family violence, legal remedies, and services available to victims. The project will not only educate the students on this important topic; it will also promote public discourse and help students to develop critical thinking and oral presentation skills.No academic credit is granted for participating in the project; however, these dedicated students meet week in and week out, eager to learn and already demonstrating impressive advocacy skills that will serve them as future legal professionals.The students approached their dean Dr Hassan Okour, with the request that a three-credit Domestic Violence course be developed to expand the number of students and give them the opportunity to be engaged in this important societal and legal issue and enhance development of their advocacy skills.Muna graduated from the College in June this year. Under a special scholarship programme offered by QU, she is now pursuing her LLM (post-graduate law) degree at Berkeley University in California. She will later do her PhD and return to the college law faculty in 2013 to teach a new generation of students. Valdez credits Muna for the Domestic Violence Project and the upcoming clinic and credits them to the power of one person’s intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm to change the world. “I hope that by the time Muna she returns from her studies, the College will have a thriving Family Violence Clinic, and especially, that she would teach the course. After all, in many ways, it belongs to her,” Valdez added.