The Professional Legal Practice Certificate (PLPC) course has become one of Bahrain’s most effective mechanisms for preparing legal talent to operate confidently in real practice. Speaking on behalf of the Judicial & Legal Studies Institute (JLSI), Judge Dr Reyadh Mohamed Seyadi, the Director, explores what goes into creating a sustainable model for developing legal talent in Bahrain.
When the Judicial and Legal Studies Institute (JLSI) launched the Professional Legal Practice Certificate (PLPC) course in 2019, the team thought we were creating a training course, which, of course, needed to be strong and comprehensive. Over the last five years, however, we have recognised that we were also responding to a different need: how do we change the way legal talent is grown and nurtured in the Kingdom of Bahrain?
When the JLSI launched PLPC in 2019, we believed we were creating a strong training course – and we were. Over the following years, we also realised we were meeting a deeper need: changing how legal talent is grown and nurtured in Bahrain. In that sense, PLPC has evolved into a quiet piece of national training infrastructure, built on trust-based collaboration between a public institution and private practice.
The programme serves a wider national priority to strengthen the legal capabilities that underpin the digital economy, international trade, and investment in the Kingdom of Bahrain. A modern, predictable, and practice-ready legal profession is the cornerstone of a safe and attractive legal environment for investors, one that supports confidence in transactions, protects rights, and enables sustainable growth.
Fresh graduates arrive brilliant on paper. They can analyse precedents, argue theory, and cite cases. Then they enter a law office and discover that the work requires a level of literacy entirely different from theirs. How do you communicate with a difficult client? What does good legal drafting actually look like when it lands on a partner’s desk? When do you push back, and when do you listen?
PLPC was designed to close that gap by making professional competence the centre of the learning experience – competence that is practical, measurable, and anchored in real expectations of the market.
The programme’s breakthrough came from trusting a model that has been in use for generations. This model is an apprenticeship, where participants learn through proximity to people doing the work right now. When practitioners walk participants through a recent negotiation, something shifts in the room. Standards move from theory to practice, becoming both visible and achievable.
Sulaf Zakharia, our Head of Institutional Relations at JLSI, is the force behind this programme, bringing its many moving parts together. In her words, “The programme’s value lies not only in what it teaches, but in how it shapes professional identity.”
PLPC runs for six months and covers 16 modules taught by practising lawyers from a number of law firms, most of whom have supported the programme from the start: Altamimi & Co., Newton Legal Group, DLA Piper, Hassan Radhi & Associates, Ali Alaradi Attorneys & Legal Consultants, and Mutaywea Law. This year, they are joined by the Economic Development Board (EDB), Elham Hassan & Associates, and Abdulwahab & Co.
Every session is delivered in English, because English remains the working language for much of Bahrain’s cross-border legal practice. While the content itself is important, what matters even more is exposure to how experienced lawyers think through problems, manage clients, and balance commercial and legal considerations.
One of the most compelling validations of the programme came from behaviour we did not plan for: PLPC graduates do not simply move on. Many return to train, some recruit new PLPC candidates, while others enrol their recruits in the PLPC. Over time, alumni have formed an informal network that reinforces professional standards with minimal orchestration. That is a sign of sustainability and proof that the programme builds a culture, not just a cohort.
The firms participating in this program year after year invest their time without immediate payoff. They don’t do it for the publicity. They recognised a practical need: raising baseline quality across the sector benefits everyone. Better-prepared juniors mean less remedial training, fewer basic errors, and higher collective standards. They’re grooming students who will soon enter the workforce, ready to hit the ground running with competencies that will otherwise take time to hone.
For educators and institutions considering similar models, PLPC offers a clear lesson: give students access to successful practitioners. Make the work authentic, not simulated. Let private sector partners shape content directly. Trust that professional identity is formed through mentorship and exposure to practitioners who do the work – rather than through listening to lectures about it.
PLPC’s evolution shows what becomes possible when a public institution and private practice align around a shared outcome: developing legal practitioners who can meet real standards, in real environments, with real responsibility. Over time, that readiness translates into something larger. It supports Bahrain’s capacity to serve the demands of the digital economy, facilitate international trade, and strengthen investor confidence through a safe, reliable, and globally connected legal environment.
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