Transcript What to Expect from ADR at EPA

Lawyers and Bar Associations Helping
Lawyers and Bar Associations
– The ABA’s Rule of Law Initiative
and Projects in China
Allison Moore
Country Director, Vietnam Program (Oct 2007- )
Country Director, China Program (2004-2007)
American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative
Presentation at IBA 2007 Annual Meeting
Worldwide Rule of Law Deficit




Poverty, economic stagnation, conflict - rule of law as
antidote
Countries that lack the rule of law fail to meet the
most basic needs of their populations  lack of
economic opportunity, basic justice, and even physical
security
Most important calling of the world's legal community
is addressing global rule of law deficit
Bar associations’ role
ABA’s Rule of Law Initiative




11 goals that state ABA’s mission; in 1990 ABA adopted
goal of advancing the rule of law in the world
launched the Rule of Law Initiative (ROLI) – first
Central and Eastern Europe Law Initiative (CEELI)
and then expanding to Asia, Africa, Latin America, and
the Middle East
ROLI’s overseas work is implemented by experienced
legal professionals working in tandem with a staff of
host country legal professionals – 400 people abroad
Cadre of short and long-term pro bono volunteers, from
U.S. and elsewhere ($200 million contributed since
1990)
Principles for Assistance


All projects must be responsive to the needs and
priorities of local partners
All projects seek to offer a comparative law perspective



recognition that American legal experience and traditions
offer but one approach
Establish effective partnerships to ensure long-term
impact
ROLI is public service project, not a device for
developing business opportunities


strict ethical guidelines to ensure that technical advice offered
by its participants is neutral and conflicts of interest avoided
when feasible, participants in ROLI projects serve pro bono
China Project as Example




ABA works hand in hand with reformers in
government and civil society
Programs provide opportunity for broad stakeholder
input, sharing of international best practices, for
criminal justice reforms, protection of women’s rights,
environment, migrant workers’ rights
Enable local governments and other stakeholders to
popularize and implement participatory governance,
justice system reforms, and improved regulatory
enforcement and compliance
Build capacity within the Chinese legal profession and
civil society to safeguard and advocate for citizens’
rights
How Individual Lawyers and
Law Firms Can Participate




Daily work of lawyers itself knits the fabric of law –
strength of the rule of law depends first on
professional skill and fidelity to constitutional and
legal values
Initiatives like ABA’s and others also provide a
framework for lawyers and law firms to get involved
in sharing legal expertise and experience
Find critical points that can help strengthen the
human resources, institutions, and policies for the
rule of law in developing or transitioning countries
Mode of participation depends on the type of
activity
Activity: Skills trainings

Pro bono experts model skills through trial
demonstration, client interviews or other simulation
exercises such as formulating a theory of the case,
exercising judgment in analysis of complex or
conflicting evidence, other skills practice.
Example: Domestic violence and sex harassment case
comparative trial demonstrations

Support local lawyers to develop the skills and
knowledge to counsel environmental, health, and safety
compliance, ethics and anticorruption, and civic
participation and public outreach for their clients
Example: ABA supports the Environment and Natural
Resources Law Committee of the All China Lawyers
Association (ACLA) annual training workshop each year:
EIA, CDM, standing in public interest litigation
Activity: Policy Implementation
Training Workshops

Pro bono lawyers can share experience with developing
internal structures and staff trainings, involving
stakeholder participation, community education,
developing incentives and informational tools that assist
with civil society monitoring and compliance
Example: ABA has partnered with China’s State
Environmental Protection Administration for “mock
public hearing” trainings - introduced China’s EIA law
and national public hearing regulations to many hundreds
of local Environmental Protection Bureau officials,
lawyers, judges, NGOs, enterprises, educators, media
Activity: Policy/Legislative reform


Foreign bar associations can support local bar
associations and lawyers to identify legal reform
priorities and develop advocacy for them
Foreign legal experts can present experience or
commentary from a comparative perspective
Example: ABA, NYU, China People’s University trial
demonstration workshops to model proposed criminal
procedure reforms (incl challenges to voluntariness of
confessions, use of exclusionary rule, use and cross
examination of live witnesses, separation of pretrial and trial
hearing procedures)

Pro bono experts can review draft legislation
Example: ABA has organized pro bono legal experts in a variety
of fields to provide written comments and suggestions
Activity: Dialogue and Development
of Civil Society Initiatives

Foreign bar association and law firm leaders can put pro
bono and public interest law concerns on the agenda
Example: ABA President’s visits to China give high profile to
public interest law

Foreign law firms and bar associations can support
forums for promotion of coordinated initiatives and
for exchange of ideas with a range of stakeholders
Example: ABA and China Association for NGO Cooperation
(CANGO) convene multi-stakeholder community dialogues
for migrant workers, local government officials, enterprises,
lawyers, NGO leaders, and other community residents to
promote participatory development of action plans

Foreign law firms and bar associations can provide
financial support, public recognition for civil society
initiatives, and opportunities for public service and
good corporate citizenship


Example: With Peking University Women’s Legal Aid and
Research Center, convene forums to develop and implement
workplace policies against sexual harassment
Example: ABA subgrant to pilot project in Shenzhen to
develop a model of how Chinese NGOs and pro bono Chinese
lawyers can educate and enable migrant workers to assert
their rights for workplace injury compensation
Activity: Capacity building

Pro bono experts, law firms, and bar associations can
share model standards and model codes with
counterparts
Example: ABA support to ACLA on professional ethics code; and (with CBA) on
standards for representation in death penalty cases.

Foreign law firms and bar associations can provide
forums for networking of lawyers to provide mutual
support and sharing of experience


Example: ABA subgrant for “Public Interest Law Network” in China: salons for
young lawyers and law students, mentoring, internships
In all ROLI activities, assist partners as needed with
strategic planning, capacity needs assessments,
financial/accounting training, development
organizational governance structures
Activity: Transnational Initiatives

Bar associations can also provide forums for lawyers
from different countries to discuss transnational
initiatives
Example: ABA’s U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Food and
Product Safety
Example: ABA support to Environmental Law Alliance
Worldwide (E-LAW) for All-Asia Environmental Public
Interest Lawyer Conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Lawyers and law firms can also reach out to other
stakeholders to mainstream the movement for justice
worldwide.
Example: World Justice Project (with IBA and others)
Ingredients of Successful Int’l
Rule of Law Projects
1. Cooperation with a local partner is essential (responsiveness;
convening power)
2. Consider financial and organizational sustainability from start
3. Need for a good support structure on the ground for these
projects  dedicate staff time
4. Tips for pro bono experts to participate most effectively
* not “textbook” overviews but sharing of actual experience
– what do you do
* what the practice encompasses and what its limits are
* answer the question: “and if that rule isn’t followed, then
what happens?” (think implementation)
* prioritize what has been most important and what can be
accomplished most easily or cheaply
Ingredients of Successful Int’l
Rule of Law Projects (Cont’d)
4. Role play exercises and other simulated situations particularly
effective modes of sharing experience
5. Sharing of models and samples, of checklists to spot issues, of
bottom line lessons learned
6. Involve pro bono legal experts from different countries
7. Realize valuable and unique role of bar and lawyers in engaging
their counterparts in discussion of professional values and ethics
of public service, and of modeling those values in practice create worldwide legal culture supportive of pro bono
More information on ABA’s Rule of
Law Initiative at www.abarol.org
Allison Moore
[email protected]