“Care Is Not a Favor but a Duty”: LAU and Beirut Bar Association Sign Agreement to Expand Medical Services for Lawyers
September 18, 2026 | By Meera Shamma
The three-year agreement will expand access to consultations with LAU Medical Center–Rizk Hospital physicians for BBA members and their families through the association’s Health Center.
Trust is the foundation of both law and medicine. On September 18, that shared value brought the Lebanese American University (LAU) and the Beirut Bar Association (BBA) together to formalize and expand an existing relationship supporting the health and well-being of lawyers and their families.
The three-year memorandum of understanding was signed by BBA President Mr. Imad Martinos and LAU President Dr. Chaouki T. Abdallah. The LAU Health System will carry out the medical aspects of the agreement through LAU Medical Center–Rizk Hospital. BBA, LAU, and LAU Health System leaders also attended the ceremony.
Physicians from the medical center have supported the BBA Health Center and cared for its members for years. The agreement gives this work a formal structure: physicians will continue to volunteer their time and expertise, with residents joining them according to a schedule coordinated by both institutions. Students from LAU’s Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine will also participate under appropriate supervision, connecting their education with the needs of the people they will one day serve.
The physicians offer consultations in interventional cardiology, gynecology, nephrology, hematology and oncology, infectious diseases, gastroenterology, and orthopedic surgery. Further specialties are expected as the partnership develops.
For Mr. Martinos, the agreement reflects a broader duty toward the legal community.
“We represent two dimensions of one great value: humanity,” he said, acknowledging the physical and mental demands placed on lawyers and the importance of standing beside them in their professional and personal lives.
“Health care is not a privilege, but a right. Care is not a favor, but a duty,” he added.
Dr. Abdallah drew a connection between law and medicine, observing that people often turn to lawyers and physicians when they are vulnerable.
“They come with a problem. Sometimes with uncertainty. Sometimes with fear,” he said. “And in both cases, they place something extraordinarily valuable in our hands: their trust.”
Both professions, he noted, carry a responsibility to use their expertise in the service of others.
The initiative also holds particular meaning for LAU as a university. Working alongside experienced physicians and engaging directly with the public will give medical students firsthand experience of the people and responsibilities behind the science they study.
“Our responsibility is not only to educate students, but to educate human beings,” Dr. Abdallah said. “Our medical students must learn the science of medicine. But they must also learn its humanity.”
The partnership brings several dimensions of LAU’s mission together. The university prepares future healthcare professionals to use their knowledge in the service of society. Through the LAU Health System, academic and clinical expertise come together to strengthen community impact. At the medical center, that purpose takes practical form as physicians volunteer their time and skills.
“A university cannot place walls around itself and wait for society to come to it,” Dr. Abdallah said. “Our knowledge must travel. Our expertise must travel. Our compassion must travel. And our commitment to service must travel.”
Dr. Zeina Khouri-Stevens, Executive Vice President of the LAU Health System, emphasized the months of coordination behind the agreement and the potential to broaden the range of specialties available through the Health Center. For the LAU Health System, the partnership extends specialized, compassionate care into the wider community and lays the groundwork for future initiatives between LAU and the BBA.
The ceremony also looked back on the development of the BBA Health Center. Planning, licensing, and preparations began in 2014 under former BBA President Georges Jreij before the center formally opened in 2015. A video shown at the event traced its growth over the years.
In the video, LAU Health System Group Chief Medical Officer Dr. Karl Jallad described health as one of life’s greatest blessings.
“When it is lost, much of life’s joy is lost with it,” he said.
His words reflected the spirit behind the physicians’ voluntary involvement: using clinical expertise to support the well-being of others.
Attorney Amani Mayta, Director of the BBA Health Center, thanked the physicians for contributing their time and knowledge, noting that their involvement has given the initiative its spirit and impact.
“What we are signing today is not the end of the work, but a wider space for cooperation,” she said. “The true value of this partnership will not lie in what we say about it today, but in what it will provide tomorrow to lawyers and their families.”
The memorandum also defines how the work will be carried out. The BBA will organize appointments and make the Health Center’s facilities, equipment, and relevant medical records available to participating teams. The medical center will coordinate its physicians and residents, supervise the students and trainees involved, and ensure that services meet established medical standards.
A joint committee representing LAU and the BBA will oversee implementation and address operational needs as they arise. Patient confidentiality and compliance with applicable legal and professional requirements will remain central throughout.
While the agreement formally covers three years, the speakers viewed its duration as a starting point rather than a limit. Dr. Abdallah proposed a more meaningful measure of success: “people served, students educated, relationships built, and trust earned.”
Dr. Khouri-Stevens shared that vision, expressing hope that the relationship would continue beyond its three-year term and last “for 30 years to come.”
“We want to work together, and we will do more and more,” she said.
By those measures, the signing is only the beginning. Its meaning will take shape with every consultation, every learning experience, and every moment in which knowledge and compassion are placed in the service of people.