05.04.2007

Professor Peter Hammer delivers the Ethics class to judges and prosecutors at the RAJP, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 19, 2007.

In April, the ABA Legal Education Advisor (LEA) organized the first continuing legal education class modules on land law and ethics for judges and prosecutors at the Cambodian Royal Academy for Judicial Professionals (RAJP). The LEA worked with EWMI consultant Pat Baars and local experts on developing the land law module. The LEA retained as a consultant Professor Peter Hammer (Wayne State Law School, Detroit Michigan, USA) to work with local judges and prosecutors on developing the ethics module. Finally, the LEA worked with UNICEF representatives on the logistics of payments to the judges/prosecutors and the RAJP.

The land law and ethics modules were delivered to the first RAJP class of 30 judges and prosecutors on March 19-21 at the RAJP training center. The attendees asked a lot of questions and stated that they learned a great deal. These were the first continuing education classes offered to Cambodian judges and prosecutors. It also represented the first ethics training for judges and prosecutors. The ethics training was particularly timely because the judge/prosecutor Code of Conduct was recently passed into law. It is anticipated that the ABA LEA will run these training modules to every Cambodian judge and prosecutor over the course of the year.

For more information, please contact Steve Austermiller at:<austermiller@ewmi-praj.org>