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Brimming with economic, strategic, and cultural accomplishment, the State of Israel is still establishing the foundations of its democratic law and governance – the basis for a stable and prosperous society. Law professors, judges, and other jurists are a particularly influential part of this developing legal and political life: they help inform a broader debate about the rules by which Israel should be governed, and also advise on or even decide questions of critical national import such as national security, economics, and religion and state.
Exposure to the foundations of classical thought on law and democracy is needed to foster a well-rounded and reflective legal discourse. This is especially true for a country embroiled in the sometimes heated business of constitutional formation – a discussion in which only one legal philosophy, promoting a powerful and activist court, finds serious expression, despite the wealth of other historical, political, legal, and philosophical ideas on which to draw.
The Skolnick Seminar on Law and Democracy offers select Israeli law students a unique opportunity to delve into works of political thought that have shaped the world’s most successful societies, classic texts of Israeli jurisprudence and legal history, and case studies relating to modern challenges in Israeli society. Students study, discuss, and debate the role of a legal system in a democracy, which government structures and law best secure individual liberty, and to what extent such structures do or should find expression in Israel.
Great emphasis is placed on the principles of the separation of powers, judicial restraint, individual liberty, and limited government. No similar intellectual experience exists in Israel, and even the classic texts presented are rarely discussed in law school faculties.
Nestled in a Jerusalem hotel, seminar participants live in-residence with faculty and staff who facilitate this rigorous intellectual program over the course of two weeks. Participants are immersed in vibrant study and conversation throughout the days, honing their ideas in the company of top lecturers drawn from academia, the courts, the state prosecution, and private firms. Lecturers have included Supreme Court Justice Alex Steyn, Professor Ruth Gavison (z”l), Professor Yehonatan Givati, former minister of justice, Professor Daniel Friedmann, former Tel Aviv law school dean Professor Menachem Mautner, Professor Talia Einhorn, and former deputy attorney general, Dina Zilber.
Seminar alumni have gone on to clerk on the Supreme Court and enter competitive careers in the private and public sectors. Alumni continue to meet for both learning and recreational purposes on at least an annual basis.
Professor Avi Bell of Bar-Ilan and San Diego Universities serves as dean of the seminar, accompanied by Adv. Gil Bringer as a primary lecturer. Mr. Bringer is a senior civil servant who previously worked at the Ministry of Justice.
For more details, please see our Hebrew-language website, which contains the most updated information on the dates of the seminar, the stipend, and application information.
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