ABA program highlights the role of the legal profession in establishing the rule of law

"'The desirability of the rule of law is clear. The question is where to start,'" said David Andrews, former legal adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State and general counsel to the U.S. Department of State, quoting Thomas Carothers of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Andrews was speaking at the onset of "The Role of the Legal Profession in Establishing the Rule of Law," a program at the International Rule of Law Symposium held in mid-September in Chicago.

Andrews served as moderator for a panel that featured speakers Maja Daruwala, director, Commonwealth Human Rights Institute; Anne Ramberg, secretary-general, Swedish Bar Association; Sternford Moyo, deputy president, Southern African Development Community Lawyers' Association and past president, Zimbabwe Law Society; James Goldston, executive director, Justice Initiative, Open Society Institute; and ABA President-elect William H. Neukom.

L-R David Andrews; William Neukom; Maja Durawala; Anne Ramberg; James Goldston; Sternford Moyo

"Where do you start in establishing the rule of law?" asked Andrews. There must be an acknowledgement, said Goldston, that "lawyers can only do so much." Other entities and interests are required. Neukom said lawyers must "erect a tent" and invite volunteers and senior staff of other entities to join in the endeavors, those entities including teachers, clergy, journalists and others. But within the legal profession, the responsibility of upholding the rule of law, said Ramberg, is not only the responsibility of the bar associations, "but also the individual lawyer."

Daruwala emphasized that what is critical in establishing the rule of law is making the law accessible. We usually look at our client group as our paying or pro bono clients, she noted, but our real clients in the case of the rule of law are the poor, the excluded. While we may look at the law as benign, that is not the case for a lot of people in many countries. Instead, said Daruwala, the law is looked at as "oppressive." Neukom added that even in the United States, there is a huge unmet need despite our best efforts in providing pro bono services and in urging adequate funding for legal aid.

In order to establish and improve upon the rule of law, Goldston suggested that large firms that have active pro bono efforts in one state or country can have lawyers travel to other branches to instruct their colleagues on their pro bono work. There needs to be a "clarification of law itself," indicated Moyo, meaning that people need to understand the law. This will occur through public education and publicized information about the law. As Daruwala explained in an example about a woman from a developing country who doesn't ever go to court or utilize the judicial system in some fashion, simply knowing that there's a system of recourse and that she has rights is "self-transformative."

In addition to clarifying the law for the public, Moyo said that lawyers need to promote observance of the rule of law, which can be done by highlighting failures in the rule of law and lack of adherence to judicial decisions.

All panel members stressed the importance of access to justice and ended the program discussing the need for an independent judiciary. A judiciary that is not independent cannot possibly promote the rule of law, said Moyo. "Clean fish cannot come out of a dirty sewer."

Back to top