Legal Education Reform

Education is a primary concern for legal reformers in transitioning countries, where training has historically focused on theory rather than practice. Through mock trial competitions students in Kazakhstan put into practice technical lawyering skills and knowledge learned in the classroom.

Through the Legal Education Reform programs, the Rule of Law Initiative is pursuing two related but distinct missions. First, it seeks to reform law schools because changing the mindset of future members of the legal profession is one of the surest ways to usher in lasting legal reforms. Second, it seeks to create a more robust "rule of law culture" by educating members of the public about their legal rights under domestic and international law. An educated public that is willing and able to demand that government act in a fair, transparent and law-based manner can help achieve peaceful change.

I. Reforming Law Schools

In many parts of the world, the next generation of judges, prosecutors, and lawyers are being shaped today by a legal education system that is in dire need of reform. Law schools in the countries in which the Rule of Law Initiative operates have, on the whole, been resistant to change. Particularly in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, there are few examples of prestigious, state-run law schools that have undergone truly significant transformation in the past 15 years. Moreover, since the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, law degrees have become highly sought after, spawning a proliferation of substandard law schools that are widely known to be "diploma mills." Unregulated in many countries, these unaccredited law schools have degraded the value of a law degree and continue to graduate law students who lack the training to be effective and ethical lawyers. An additional challenge to reforming the legal education system in most countries is pervasive corruption, which first manifests itself during the admission process and remains an unrelenting, and costly, burden on students through graduation.

Despite the formidable challenges faced by legal education reformers, some of the Rule of Law Initiative's most fruitful work has been in the area of legal education. One of the more notable bright spots has been the growing adoption of practice-based teaching methodologies by young and seasoned law professors alike. In particular, many law schools in the countries in which the Rule of Law Initiative operates have experimented with and ultimately embraced clinical legal education programs as a much needed counterweight to the highly theoretical curricula that most law schools continue to favor. The growth of the clinical legal education movement, particularly in the Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia region, has been partly fueled by the availability of funding for cross-border cooperation and exchange programs, much of it supplied by assistance providers such as the Rule of Law Initiative.

In addition to the impressive growth of the clinical legal education movement in the past 15 years, the Rule of Law Initiative has successfully encouraged the adoption of other interactive teaching methodologies. These include moot court and mock trial activities, which, along with clinics, help law students appreciate the importance of advocating vigorously on behalf of individual clients' fundamental rights, such as the right to a fair trial.

These programs also engender an appreciation of the importance of being an advocate with high moral and ethical standards -- characteristics that are critical to reshaping both the image and function of the legal profession.

 

II. Public Legal Education

Creating a rule of law culture is a multi-generational undertaking that can succeed only if a nation's youngest citizens first come to believe that certain rights are fundamental and cannot be violated by fellow citizens or the state. The level of legal literacy in most countries in which the Rule of Law Initiative has a presence is low, in part because few efforts are made to educate citizens, young or old, about their rights and responsibilities. There is a great need to disseminate information about the law and legal rights to average citizens. Through "know your rights" brochures, public service announcements, "street law" courses and other projects, the Rule of Law Initiative has reached millions of citizens by educating them on topics as varied as constitutional rights, domestic violence, corruption, human trafficking and voting rights.

The Rule of Law Initiative's programs have developed a wide array of programming to assist in (1) reforming the legal education systems in host countries and (2) fostering a more robust rule of law culture through legal literacy initiatives. Below is a brief description of representative programs in these two areas.

 

1. Curriculum Reform

Law faculties, particularly those in the Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, have struggled to develop courses on topics that gained sudden relevance in the aftermath of communism's collapse, such as bankruptcy law, alternative dispute resolution and a variety of practice-based courses such as legal writing. In Kazakhstan, the Rule of Law Initiative worked with the Adilet University Faculty of Law to devise the first-ever legal research and writing curriculum in that country. In Kyrgyzstan, an updated legal ethics course is being implemented with support from the Rule of Law Initiative in eight universities.

Similarly, in November 2005, the University of the Philippines Law School commenced a new course with Rule of Law Initiative support entitled Special Problems in Legal Ethics, which is an upper level elective course that addresses ethical issues in labor law, commercial transactions, family law, remedial law, and alternative dispute resolution through the use of interactive discussions and problem scenarios.

Also in the Philippines, the Rule of Law Initiative partnered with Ateneo Law School to develop a curriculum for an anti-corruption class as well as a module to be used by other law schools. In Azerbaijan, the Rule of Law Initiative is helping Baku State University establish an LL.M. program in commercial law that was launched in the fall of 2006. Owing in large part to the Rule of Law Initiative's efforts, Bulgaria's Council of Ministers formally incorporated clinical legal training into the system of Bulgarian legal education on August 11, 2005 by amending the Legal Education Ordinance. In Cambodia, the Rule of Law Initiative is training a group of competitively selected professors at the Royal University for Law and Economics to employ innovative teaching methodologies in courses as varied as legal ethics, land law, and commercial law. In Jordan, the Rule of Law Initiative has undertaken a range of efforts focusing on curriculum reform, including the development of new courses and the creation of practicum-style summer programs.

Finally, in Thailand, law students and legal professionals receive little training on legal ethics. To help address this problem, the Rule of Law Initiative is assisting Thai universities to develop legal ethics courses that can be integrated into the law school curriculum.

 

2. Practical Legal Education

Law school-based clinics, moot court competitions, and mock trials were virtually unknown in most of the Rule of Law Initiative's host countries 15 years ago - and in some cases far more recently than that. The Rule of Law Initiative has been among the world's leading promoters of practice-based legal education and has had considerable success in this endeavor. For example, the nascent and largely donor-driven clinical legal education movements in Russia and Ukraine of the mid-1990s are now undisputedly indigenous movements. Many clinics, once thought to be unsustainable by early critics of the movement, are now fully self-sustaining, with some even serving as model clinics and training centers for less advanced clinics. For example, model clinics now exist in the Russian cities of Tver, St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Krasnoyarsk and in the Ukrainian cities of Volinsk, Ostrog, and Uzhgorod.

Young Moroccan law students participate in practical training.

The expansion of the clinical legal education movement continues. In 2004, the Rule of Law Initiative established a human rights clinic in Morocco -- the first of its kind in the region -- modeled in part on the Tashkent State Law Institute's human rights clinic that it also helped to create. In Cambodia, the Rule of Law Initiative has helped develop a robust clinical legal education program within the Lawyer Training Center (LTC). In February 2005, the LTC Legal Consultation Office opened its doors to clients from the community who otherwise would be unable to afford representation.

In many countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the Rule of Law Initiative is also assisting in developing teaching materials (for example, Russia and Ukraine), devising minimum clinical legal education standards (for example, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia), and developing substantive specializations in such areas as human rights, refugee rights, prisoner's rights, women's rights, and children's rights (for example, Moldova, Ukraine and Russia). Clinicians in certain countries have succeeded in improving coordination among clinics by creating clinical legal education foundations and associations (for example, Russia and Ukraine), a Center for Methodological Support of Clinics (in Kyrgyzstan) and a Eurasia-wide "Clinical Alliance."

The Rule of Law Initiative has also helped foster innovative variations on the more traditional law school-based clinical model. For example, the recently established clinical externship programs in Khujand and Dushanbe, Tajikistan trained and placed law students with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the area - both as a means of serving the community and to help build the practical skills of students. In late 2005, the LTC in Cambodia launched a law fellows program under which the Rule of Law Initiative supports recent LTC graduates for a year of supervised practice with NGOs in rural areas. In Serbia, the Rule of Law Initiative helped implement a court internship program, stationing several hundred students in courtrooms to observe the law in action.

The Rule of Law Initiative has also devoted substantial resources to the promotion of moot court competitions, mock trials, and related skills-building extracurricular activities, all of which provide students with unique opportunities to develop practical legal skills. With the Rule of Law Initiative's support, teams from Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan participated in the 2006 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, the world's largest moot court competition. This is but a continuation of the Rule of Law Initiative's multi-year support for this important competition. In addition to moot court competitions, law students in Europe and Eurasia and elsewhere are developing practical lawyering skills through participation in mock trials, client counseling competitions, and "legal Olympiads."

 

3. Accreditation

In response to the proliferation of private law schools, the Rule of Law Initiative has stepped up its efforts to assist governments and bar officials in establishing accreditation standards for law programs. In Georgia, the Rule of Law Initiative has assessed the legal education system and helped chart a reformist course for law schools that is expected to lead to the adoption of nationwide accreditation standards. If successful, that could establish an important precedent for other countries in the region, just as the Georgian judicial qualification examinations were extremely influential in the region.

In Mexico, the Rule of Law Initiative conducted a two-year project that focused on accreditation of law schools in the states of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Chihuahua and Nuevo Leon as well as the Federal District. Among other things, this small project prompted Mexico's universities, including the Universidad Autonoma Nacional de Mexico (UNAM) and the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, to begin their own accreditation project.

 

4. Public Legal Education

Much of the Rule of Law Initiative's public legal education efforts focus on promoting "street law" programs. These programs train the best and brightest law students to conduct trainings for school children and the general public on basic legal rights. In Kazakhstan, for example, the Initiative has helped law students conduct lessons on the death penalty, human rights, and voter rights. In Azerbaijan, an Initiative-supported "street law" program has begun to offer lessons online to expand its reach. Another mode of educating the public is through "know your rights" brochures, covering topics such as the rights of detained persons, human trafficking, and domestic violence. The Rule of Law Initiative's programs have published countless such brochures over the years.

One of the most powerful means of educating the public is through videos and television and radio public service announcements (PSAs). The Rule of Law Initiative helped produce short television PSAs on voter rights in connection with the 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections that were viewed by more than 10 million people. In Armenia, a series of PSAs designed to appeal to children (as well as adults) on such topics as the constitution and corruption have been enormously well received and mirror, to some degree, the well-known Schoolhouse Rock series produced in the United States. Based largely on the success of the Armenia PSA campaign, USAID tapped the Rule of Law Initiative in April 2006 to develop similar PSAs in Rwanda, Cambodia, Ecuador and Kyrgyzstan.

 

5. Student Associations

The Rule of Law Initiative has provided technical and financial assistance for the development of student bar associations throughout Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia. For example, the Balkan Law School Linkage Initiative linked student bar associations and faculty at Balkan law schools with U.S. counterparts. In Tajikistan, the League of Student Lawyers (LSL) is very active, helping to coordinate the "My Civic Standing" public legal education program in community centers, youth clubs, and other non-school venues as well as mock trials and debates. Rule of Law Initiative personnel have also trained LSL members on ways to increase the league's sustainability and decrease their dependence on foreign donors. The participants were trained on topics such as fundraising, strategic planning, and reporting. In Turkmenistan, where the Rule of Law Initiative's activities are severely restricted, staff helped create a law student association at Turkmen State University that organizes debates and roundtables on a variety of legal issues.

 

6. Standard-Setting and Diagnostic Tools

The Rule of Law Initiative continues to be a leader in devising diagnostic tools to assess the state of a particular aspect of a country's legal system. In 2006, the Rule of Law Initiative developed the Legal Education Reform Index (LERI), which follows the same format and methodology used in its other diagnostic tools, such as the Legal Profession Reform Index and the Judicial Reform Index. The LERI sets out 24 factors against which a country's legal education system is assessed. These standards are based on international and regional standards as well as the ABA's own, highly regarded standards for assessing law schools in the United States. The Rule of Law Initiative piloted the LERI in Armenia in early 2007, and expects to publish its findings in fall 2007..