Dr. Lena-Maria Möller

Dr. Lena-Maria Möller is a Research Assistant Professor at Qatar University’s College of Law and affiliated with the Center for Law and Development. She specializes in comparative law, private international law, and Middle Eastern legal systems, focusing on interactions between state, religious, and international legal regimes, especially in Muslim family law. She holds a Ph.D. in Law and an M.A. in Middle East Studies from the University of Hamburg. Her work has been published in leading journals and earned distinctions including the Otto Hahn Medal from the Max Planck Society. She is Associate Editor of Arab Law Quarterly and a former Co-President of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Prior to joining Qatar University, she was a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg and held teaching positions at the Universities of Münster, Leipzig, and Augsburg.

Lena-Maria Möller will contribute two smaller case studies on selected aspects of the pre- to post-colonial transition of Qatar's legal and judicial system. The first study will scrutinize the tribal and commercial courts, distinct judicial tribunals that existed in the Gulf sheikhdoms prior to the emergence of independent nation states, but that were not institutionalized in the newly established State of Qatar after 1971. The study will examine the reasons behind these tribunals' demise and question the influence of internal and external factors for their abolition in favor of Sharia courts. The second study will be an inquiry into the establishment of an archive that preserves Qatar's legal history, especially from the 20th century onwards. The study will engage with recent attempts to make the country's oral history accessible to the public and investigate the current state of preservation of legal historical documents.

• Qatar, in Encyclopedia of Private International Law, 2nd ed. (Edward Elgar, forthcoming).

• Federalism and Family Law in the United Arab Emirates: Untangling Conflict of Laws and Conflicts of Jurisdiction (forthcoming, advance article) Arab Law Quarterly. doi:10.1163/15730255-bja10196.

• Legal Reform for Syria’s War-affected Children: Adoption, Fostering, and State Responsibility in Transition (2025) 39 International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 1–18. doi:10.1093/lawfam/ebaf029.

• Between religious diversity and national unity: The role of family law in Syria’s transitional justice journey (15 January 2025) LSE Religion and Global Society blog.

• Children and Law, in Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE (Volume 2025-1), Brill 2025, 26–31. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_24397.

• Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation on Civil Family Law and Muslim Foreigners: Has the Tide Turned? (15 November 2024) Conflictoflaws.net.

• Special Issue Media Representations of Law and Justice: Middle Eastern Perspectives (2024) 16 Middle East Law and Governance (with Hanan Badr).

• Introduction to special issue Media Representations of Law and Justice: Middle Eastern Perspectives (2024) 16 Middle East Law and Governance, 1–6 (with Hanan Badr). doi:10.1163/18763375-16010003.

• One Year of Civil Family Law in the United Arab Emirates: A Preliminary Assessment (2024) 38 Arab Law Quarterly, 219–234. doi:10.1163/15730255-bja10140.

• Special Issue Images of Female Legal Professionals in Popular Culture – a Transnational Comparison (2023) 30 International Journal of the Legal Profession (with Shahd Alshammari).

• Introduction to special issue Images of Female Legal Professionals in Popular Culture – a Transnational Comparison (2023) 30 International Journal of the Legal Profession, 217–220 (with Shahd Alshammari). doi:10.1080/09695958.2023.2228694.

• The Ideal Emirati Woman Lawyer: Femininity and Professionalism in Justice: Qalb Al Adala (2023) 30 International Journal of the Legal Profession, 291–304. doi:10.1080/09695958.2023.2225855.

• The MENA Region and COVID-19: Impact, Implications and Prospects (Routledge 2022) (with Zeina Hobaika & Jan Claudius Völkel). doi:10.4324/9781003240044.

• Marital Choice and “Suitability” in a Heterogeneous Society: Some Reflections on Kafāʾa in the United Arab Emirates (2022) VI Asian Yearbook of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, 134–147. doi:10.1163/9789004520806_008.

• Special Issue Ten Years after the Arab Uprisings: Beyond Media and Liberation (2021) 9 Media and Communication (with Hanan Badr).

• Editorial: Beyond Mainstream Media and Communication Perspectives on the Arab Uprisings (2021) 9 Media and Communication, 260–263 (with Hanan Badr). doi:10.17645/mac.v9i4.5151.

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