This paper presents and analyzes the first wave of data from a large, multi-year grant project to document and discuss the diverse key meanings, institutional manifestations and social implications of law in Qatar, and in similar Arab Gulf countries. The research grounds the impacts of law in Qatar in intersections of local and global legal discourses, the interplay of legal ideas and institutions, and the interactions of religious and secular themes. Based on an appreciation of the contested and diverse nature of the rule of law, the work makes sense of legal ideals and performance in the particular, dynamic context of contemporary Arab societies, in this case, Qatar. The paper analyzes the results of a first wave of printed surveys distributed to 320 law students at Qatar University, open-ended interviews with Qatari and international legal stakeholders including lawyers, judges, law professors and bureaucrats, and legal texts, including legislation. This rich, original material considers how young and older legal stakeholders describe and prioritize aspects of the rule of law, as well as what this might mean for the ongoing development of the legal system in Qatar and similar societies. This paper addresses explicitly all three themes of the panel. The richness and novelty of the data allow detailed discussion of diverse meanings of the rule of law and the interaction of local and global actors. The paper concludes with tentative speculation about the implications of the rule of law for Arab Gulf societies.