News
Liberian Training Pilots Innovative Techniques, Supports New Professional Organization
In August, the James A. A. Pierre Judicial Institute (Institute) and the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) partnered with the U.S.-based National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) to conduct training for 20 Liberian public defenders. The five-day seminar emphasized trial court techniques, including practical skills such as examining witnesses, writing motions, and preparing opening and closing statements. Read more »»
ABA ROLI and the Carter Center Train New Attorneys
The ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) and the Carter Center sponsored an advocacy training for 20 new Liberian attorneys. The trainees received their certificates of completion from M. Wilkins Wright, president of the Liberian National Bar Association. Read more »»
Podcast: ABA ROLI’s Legal Skills Center Helps Reform Legal Education in Liberia 
The ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), in cooperation with the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia, runs a legal skills center. The center is helping to improve legal education and to better prepare law students and recent graduates for their legal career. The center offers scholarships to third-year law students and coordinates the placement of scholarship graduates to work as field attorneys with partner government and non-governmental organizations during their first year of practice. In this podcast, Margaret Snoeren, ABA ROLI deputy country director, discusses the center’s establishment and impact. Listen to the 8-minute audio
ABA ROLI Assesses Liberia’s Aliens and Nationality Law
The ABA Rule of Law Initiative’s (ABA ROLI’s) Research and Assessments Office recently issued the Analysis of the Aliens and Nationality Law of the Republic of Liberia, undertaken at the request of the Liberian Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization. In a June 25 letter, Commissioner C. Clarence Massaquoi and Deputy Commissioner Abla Gadegbeku-Williams extended their “sincere thanks and appreciation” to ABA ROLI for the “splendid compilation” of the analysis. Read more »»
Video: Mediation Training in Liberia 
Since 2006, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) in Liberia, through its U.S. Agency for International Development-supported access to justice program, has offered mediation skills trainings. About 1,100 Liberian elders, town chiefs, non-governmental organization representatives, lawyers, youth and women’s group leaders participated in the trainings. Read more »
Programs
The ABA Rule of Law Initiative’s (ABA ROLI’s) Legal Skills Center, operating in cooperation with the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, University of Liberia, has a dual focus: scholarship and field attorney programs.
Scholarship program
Third-year law students are selected for ABA ROLI scholarship based on their performances in a written test and a personal interview conducted by ABA ROLI staff attorneys. A total of 15 students are selected to receive a monthly stipend in exchange for regular attendance at a non-credit, weekly class in legal thought and writing skills, which ABA ROLI is developing for Liberia. Participants also do a 10 hours a week legal internship for a government or non-governmental organization, or for a law firm that offers pro bono services to the disadvantaged. The legal thought and writing sessions being developed will eventually be offered to the law school staff for use in appropriate for-credit courses.
All students who receive scholarship agree to work for ABA ROLI, if requested, for one year after being admitted to the bar. The program is currently managed by an attorney who received an ABA ROLI scholarship, when the program began in 2006-07. Program graduates are placed with non-governmental organizations to serve the needy or with government ministries, some of which are just setting up legal departments.
Field attorney program
ABA ROLI hires as many of its scholarship program graduates as funds allow, offering them counsel and support during their first year of practice. Regular workshops are being developed around the new lawyers’ needs for practical skills. These programs are conducted by ABA ROLI staff and cooperating rule of law-focused agencies.
The sessions piloted in the field attorney program will be offered to the Liberian National Bar Association as modules for continuing legal education programs.
Legislative Reform
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| His Excellency, Minister Samuel Kofi Woods, II Minister of Labor, Liberia 2006 ABA Reformer’s Award Recipient |
The Liberian Minister of Labor has asked the Rule of Law Initiative to aid in reforming the current Liberian law. The Minister of Labor is seeking to modernize the labor law, and sought input from the ABA. The ABA has been able to draw on attorneys from around the world to provide suggestions to revamping the entire Liberian Labor Law..
This program continues to be pursued by the ABA and by the Minister of Labor. The Africa Division has participated in numerous workshops organized by the Ministry of Labor to discuss the benefits and complications of proposed reforms. In addition, the ABA has worked with the Ministry of Labor to produce and distribute copies of the labor law to such groups as NGOs, labor unions, small business organizations, and multi-national corporations.
To learn more about our work in Liberia, contact the ABA Rule of Law Initiative at <rol@staff.abanet.org>.
Anthony Valcke
Country Director
American Bar Association
Africa Rule of Law Initiative
Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law (Top Floor)
University of Liberia
Monrovia - Liberia
Phone: +231 6 855 625
Email: avalcke@staff.abanet.org
Background
The Africa Division of the ABA Rule of Law Initiative began its Liberia operations in January of 2006. Based in Monrovia, the Liberia office is committed to promoting access to justice in Liberia. Read more »
Under the direction of Mr. Anthony Valcke, the office has been involved in a wide diversity of activities, including 1) the establishment of a legal aid center in the Louis Arthur Grimes Law School; 2) the establishment of a victim support clinic for victims of gender based violence; 3) the development of training materials and the training of mediators; 4) the creation of scholarships for promising law students involved in public service law; and 5) the provision of legal advice to the Liberian Minister of Labor in his endeavor to update the labor law.
