The Hague Convention - Monterrey, Mexico December 2004

In December 2004, the Latin American Judges' Seminar on the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction took place in Monterrey, Mexico.

Ninety Judges, government officials and other experts from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, United Sates of America, Uruguay, and Venezuela participated in the seminar.

The following Organizations: Organization of American States - Inter-American Children’s Institute, International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, American Bar Association - Latin American Law Initiative Council, Texas-Mexico Bar Association and the Law School of Instituto Technologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey were also present.

The seminar focused on how to improve, among the countries represented, the operation of the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. ABA President-Elect Michael Greco delivered the keynote address; Wayne Fagan and other members were also involved in the planning and served as speakers at the conference.

Mediation Project in Mexico

From 2001 to 2006, the ABA carried out a large Mediation in Mexico Project with funding from USAID. The Project promoted court-annexed mediation in twenty-two states by providing technical legal assistance on the drafting of mediation laws and the design and operation of mediation centers, as well as training hundreds of mediators. USAID mission in Mexico cited the Mediation Project as a model project.

The Project advanced the use of mediation as an alternative dispute resolution method in Mexico. In-country partners and participants include the Mexican Bar Association, the National Association of Notary Publics, the Federal Judiciary, the Supreme Court of the Nation, the National Institute of Mediaction, and the following states: Aguascalientes, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, Distrito Federal, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, and Yucatan. To address the regional needs of each state or entity, the project developed and implemented tailor-made strategic plans and models for each state and entity. A Committee of Assessors made up of governmental leaders from each of the participating states, academics, and members of the organizations mentioned above guided the project and gave it in-country support.

The project provided technical assistance through workshops, study tours, and publications. Most importantly, the Project trained hundreds of Mexicans to be mediators and then trained several of these mediators to be mediation trainers themselves. It developed a website - www.mediacionenmexico.org - and a newsletter and training manuals. Finally the project encouraged the collaboration and exchange of information among these states and organizations to create an effective network of experts and to promote consensus among the groups.

The Project proved quite sustainable and led to the opening of over thirty mediation centers in Mexico.  The centers continue to operate today, and in some states, the centers have moved from starting out with small civil and family law matters to carrying out mediations in large commercial matters.  Because the Project promoted court-annexed mediation, the agreements reached have the same weight as court orders and are enforceable under law. 

 

US/Mexico Judicial Independence and Accountability Program

In May 2002, at the University of Texas in Austin, the ABA held a conference that included USAID, the University of Texas, the Center for Democracy, the National Judicial College, the Consejo de la Juricatura of Mexico and various other collaborators and presented a Conference on Balancing Judicial Independence and Accountability in Mexico and the United States. USAID and the University of Texas funded the conference. Federal and state judges from both countries participated in the program and served as speakers. The entire conference was simultaneously translated in both languages. Justice Stephen Breyer of the United States Supreme Court and by Minister Sergio Salvador Aguirre Anguiano of the Supreme Court of Mexico made the keynote addresses. The ABA was well represented at the Conference with James Silkenat, Tom Susman, Hon. Marvin Aspen, Alice Richmond, and William Paul from the Latin America and Caribbean division. Also participating as speakers and moderators were ABA President-elect Robert Hirshon, ABA President-elect designate A.P. Carlton, Hon. Norma Shapiro, Dean Paul Verkuil, Hon. Bernice Donald and Hon. Cara Lee Neville. Among the topics discussed during the two and one half day Conference were judicial independence, alternative dispute resolution, courts and the media, the court's budgeting process and judicial careers. The Conference was video-taped by C-Span and received substantial press coverage in Texas.

All those participating in the conference from both sides of the border thought the event increased understanding between the two nations . In addition, there have been efforts to create an on-going work group that develops and implements programs throughout the year dealing with familiarization of the judicial system in both countries, alternative dispute resolution issues and enforcement of foreign judgments.  By creating interest in alternative dispute resolution in Mexico, the conference led directly to the ABA Rule of Law Initiative’s Mediation in Mexico project, which achieved great success.

Conference Audio Clips:

 

Legal Education and Professionalization in Mexico

Between 2003 and 2005, the ABA Legal Education in Mexico Project worked with numerous law schools, governmental agencies, and bar association representatives to promote the accreditation of law schools in Mexico, to encourage standardization of curricula, and to focus on professionalization issues such as the importance of Continuing Legal Education for lawyers.  The Project succeeded in planting the seeds of an accreditation movement so that several leading laws schools in Mexico are now pursuing the issue.  The Project received the support ABA’s Section of Legal Education & Admissions and the Section of Continuing Legal Education in carrying out its activities.

The Project brought together a number of leading legal education leaders at the regional level through conferences held in Guanajuato, the Districto Federal, Chihuahua, and Nuevo Leon.  Included in these meetings were law school administrators from around the different regions and representatives of the National Assessment Center of Higher Education (CENEVAL).  In addition, the Project also participated in the Barra Mexicana’s Annual Meeting in 2005 where the Secretary of the ABA and the Director of the Section of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) discussed the importance of CLE to the professionalization of the legal profession.

The following institutions participated in this Project: Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Monterrey Tec, Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, LaSalle University, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Iberoamericana University, Pan-American Univerity, Autonomous University of Guanajuato, Colegio de Abogados De Jalisco, University Guadalajara, the Barra Mexicana, CENVEAL, and representatives from the state governments of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, and the DF.

The Project collaborated with Mexican leaders in the field of legal education in a manner that provided them with the framework to begin a national dialogue about accreditation. The Project’s success in encouraging the discussion of these issues has led two of the leading universities in the country, UNAM and Monterrey Tec, to have a growing interest in law school accreditation, so that they have that have continued to hold discussions of the issue to move accreditation forward.