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     The American Bar Association's (ABA) international technical legal assistance programs seek to foster fair, stable, modern legal systems around the world. These programs have seen success in helping the Chinese add transparency to environmental regulations, encouraging mediation in Mexico and Liberia, training Polish and Nigerian lawyers and judges on intellectual property law, and working with government officials to develop and implement anti-corruption measures in dozens of countries.
     "Every day, we find ourselves more intertwined with legal and commercial systems in other regions of the world: Eurasia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia," said Robert Grey, an ABA past president who has been deeply involved in the association's Rule of Law projects. "Our work ensures lawyers and businesses can operate more easily in those systems by fostering a top-quality judiciary and independent bar, improving a country's human rights environment, and assisting in revisions to criminal and commercial codes."
     The ABA began offering technical legal assistance to developing countries in 1990, following the fall of the Berlin Wall and disintegration of the Soviet Union. An early leader, the ABA developed an unusual and highly regarded model of mixed volunteer and staff teams that partner with governmental and non-governmental participants in the country and adhere to strict conflict-of-interest standards. All American Bar Association international rule of law efforts operate under the same set of core values: ABA international technical legal collaboration projects should be developed in response to an invitation from a host country or an international organization; the ABA aims to provide a comparative approach and give neutral advice; the technical legal collaboration provided by the ABA is intended to be a public service activity, without private commercial objectives or benefits; and finally, participants from the ABA, both staff and volunteers, must abide by strict conflict of interest guidelines.
     Since its founding in 1990, more than 5,000 judges, attorneys, law professors and legal specialists have contributed more than $200 million in pro bono technical legal assistance to emerging democracies.
     Today, the ABA operates five initiatives that span over 40 nations on five continents. They are:
   • Central European and Eurasian Legal Initiative (CEELI)
   • ABA-Asia
   • ABA-Africa
   • ABA Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
   • ABA Latin American Legal Initiative Council (LALIC)
The ABA's Rule of Law work focuses within six areas of concentration:
   • Anti-Corruption/Public Integrity
   • Criminal Law Reform & Trafficking
   • Gender
   • Human Rights/Conflict Mitigation
   • Judicial Reform
   • Legal Education Reform
   • Legal Profession Reform
Here is a look at what the ABA Rule of Law programs do within each of those areas.

Anti-Corruption/Public Integrity
     Corruption undermines the rule of law, democratization and the consolidation of market economies and impedes every development objective that the ABA seeks to promote through its international initiatives, whether in modernization of criminal justice systems, judicial reform, advancement of human rights or the professionalization of lawyers.
     Through its anti-corruption and public integrity work, the ABA seeks to contribute to host countries' efforts to develop legal frameworks, institutions and capacity to prevent and sanction corruption, encourage public integrity and foster accountability, transparency and public participation.
     The ABA's work in most countries incorporates an anti-corruption component, such as strengthening judicial independence, promotion of transparency in the legal system, integrity and transparency in court administration, combating cyber crime or establishment of merit-based entry into the legal profession.

Criminal Law Reform & Trafficking
     Trafficking in Persons; Cyber Crime; Fair Trials by Jury; War Crimes; Violations of Human Rights - these and many other rapidly evolving issues are among the dynamic issues that challenge criminal justice systems across the globe. In response, CEELI's criminal law reform and human trafficking program provides technical assistance to national governments, civil society actors and legal professionals to provide the skills and knowledge necessary to combat these issues. CEELI provides trial advocacy skills training to lawyers so that they may more zealously represent the rights of their clients, and empower them to bring about changes to criminal justice systems from within. Our vital and active role in the establishment of public defender and indigent defense centers will leave a legacy of fairness and access to justice in many countries. Our program also focuses on delineating the respective roles of judges, prosecutors and defense counsel to ensure fairness and a balance of power between the state and the accused. Targeted, substantive training has been offered on issues such as money laundering, terrorist financing, domestic violence, and the protections afforded by various international agreements that can further professionalize a country's criminal justice system.
     The ABA prioritizes efforts to vigorously prevent trafficking in human beings, and competently investigate and prosecute traffickers, by providing expertise on drafting legislation; promoting cooperation across borders; enhancing the capacity of national organizations and government ministries involved in anti-trafficking efforts; improving public awareness; training law enforcement officials, judges and prosecutors to more effectively investigate and try human trafficking cases; and implementing trial monitoring projects.
     The ABA also focuses on improving criminal justice systems' abilities to deal with more conventional organized crime issues such as cyber crimes and financial crimes. For example, as Eastern Europe becomes more of a haven for the origination of cyber crimes, the ABA has developed a program to combat this in Bulgaria. CEELI has trained investigators and prosecutors on international cyber crime standards, assisted with the creation of a fully equipped cyber crime training center, and is now engaged in targeted trainings that address issues such as the sexual exploitation of children through cyber crime.
     CEELI knows the impact that an effectively functioning criminal justice system has on the strengthening and preservation of individual liberties. Its efforts in criminal procedure code reform have resulted in more fair investigations and trials, and more thoroughly enumerated and protected rights for victims and the accused.

Gender
     Lack of gender equality is a major stumbling block to promoting the rule of law around the globe. Evidence shows that societies with greater gender inequality face a higher incidence of poverty, malnutrition and ill health and have lower educational attainment. They also experience slower economic growth and weaker governance.
     Achieving gender equality is still a challenge in a majority of ABA Rule of Law countries. While constitutions in post-communist Eastern Europe and Eurasia largely guarantee equal protection under the law regardless of gender, these rights are seldom enforced. In fact, since the fall of communism, women in this region have made only modest progress in addressing a variety of problems that disproportionately affect them, including domestic violence and discrimination in the workplace.
     In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), there has been progress on improving gender equality in recent decades, including a sharp rise in the number of educated women. Women, however, are still underrepresented in political and economic activity. Women in the MENA region face many legal barriers to their equal participation in society. In contrast to Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the MENA region lacks the legislative framework to secure gender equality. In response to challenges in certain host countries, the ABA has developed a wide array of programming.

Human Rights and Conflict Mitigation
     To build sustainable, peaceful solutions to transnational and internal conflicts and to promote reconciliation, the international community has intervened in a number of ways including but not limited to: inserting peacekeeping forces, brokering ceasefires, encouraging the establishment of truth and reconciliation commissions and bringing individual perpetrators to justice. As part of these efforts, international actors must promote democratic reforms, improve legal systems, seek accountability, and develop local capacity to protect human rights. Sovereign states must meet international efforts, before and after a period of conflict, by undertaking the obligation to respect and ensure the fundamental human rights of their citizens as they relate to civil, political, economic, social and cultural matters.
     The ABA is working to promote and to strengthen legal systems to prevent societies from disintegrating into violence as well as to further post-conflict reconstruction efforts. The ABA seeks to empower legal professionals and other stakeholders to access government structures and to assert citizens' rights. The ABA also strives to increase awareness and implementation of international human rights standards, international humanitarian law and international criminal justice.
     Additionally, some ABA initiatives are involved in citizens' rights advocacy. Citizens' rights advocacy is the ultimate "bottom-up" approach to rule of law reform. The ABA supports grassroots advocacy efforts through such practically-oriented programs as: trainings and publications on how to effectively provide citizen advocacy services, in-depth support to organizations performing advocacy work, and enhanced access to justice through research, reform and policy dialogue.

Judicial Reform
     Significant progress in overcoming these problems has been achieved, but many challenges remain. Inadequate judicial education and advanced training, as well as insufficient emphasis on judicial ethics frustrate the professionalism and effectiveness of judiciaries and judges throughout the developing world. Overwhelming caseloads, coupled with inadequate resource allocation and lack of modern case management mechanisms, often result in procedural delays that undermine the administration of justice. Courts are plagued with problems of corruption, further undermining the fragile public trust in fairness and efficiency of the judicial system. Moreover, insufficient professional guarantees and judicial powers leave many judges demoralized and marginalized in their own courtrooms, either unable or unwilling to promote the rule of law.
     The ABA supports judicial reform in emerging democracies because an independent, accountable and effective judiciary is a central pillar of the rule of law. Without an independent judiciary, the right to a fair trial and other fundamental rights remain illusory. Democratic governance, economic development, and social equality are also inextricably intertwined with an independent judiciary.

Legal Education Reform
     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 ABA's international Rule of Law initiatives operate have, on the whole, been resistant to change. In particular, there are few examples of prestigious, state-run law schools that have undergone truly transformative change in the last 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 debased 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 during the admission process and remains an unrelenting, and costly, burden on students through graduation.
     Despite the formidable challenges faced by legal education reformers in the region, some of the ABA's most fruitful international rule of law work has been in 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 region have experimented with and ultimately embraced clinical legal education programs, a much needed counterweight to the highly theoretical curricula that most law schools continue to favor. The growth of the clinical legal education movement in the 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 ABA's international programs.
     In addition to the impressive growth of the clinical legal education movement in the last 15 years, other interactive teaching methodologies have also been embraced by law professors and students, owing in large measure to the work of the ABA. 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.
     Additionally, 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 ABA's international programs have 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 one's rights thereunder to average citizens. Through "know your rights" brochures, public service announcements, "street law" courses and other projects, the ABA has had a profound impact on millions of average citizens by educating them on topics as varied as constitutional rights, domestic violence, corruption, human trafficking and voting rights.
     The international programs of the ABA have developed a wide array of programming to assist in reforming the legal education systems in our host countries and to foster a more robust rule of law culture through legal literacy initiatives.
     The ABA's international rule of law initiatives enhance the competence and expertise of legal practitioners by providing technical assistance on core legal skills, professional ethics, and substantive areas of the law. The ABA also provides assistance to lawyer associations through institution building activities, legislative drafting assistance, the provision of continuing legal education, and the implementation of standardized bar examinations. Finally, the ABA works to increase access to justice among vulnerable members of the population by establishing public defender and legal aid centers.

Legal Profession Reform
     ABA Rule of Law programs work to develop effective and sustainable bar associations capable of providing a core set of services that are crucial to the advancement of the legal profession, especially those central European countries rapidly advancing as economic powers. For example, to promote bar association development in Bulgaria, CEELI contributed to bar examination reforms that made the exam more difficult and comprehensive. The revised exam was successfully administered in 2005. In Armenia, CEELI facilitated the creation of a unified bar association in 2005, convening a meeting at which Armenian lawyers adopted a charter, passed a code of ethics and elected officers for the new organization.

Learning More and Getting Involved
     In every form and in every region, the ABA's Rule of Law programs have been strongly supported by U.S. government foreign aid efforts. But Grey says that today's worldwide network of law firms and multinational corporations are natural partners as the programs move further into commercial law and try new models, such as pilot pro bono efforts that may involve American law firms and general counsel's offices operating abroad.
     "As the 'boots on the ground' in many of these countries, American lawyers and the in-house counsel with which they work know exactly what improvements are needed to the legal system of a country. They also know how damaging it can be to their efforts to operate in a country that does not observe rule of law," Grey said. "As we continue to evolve and grow, we invite major law firms and their corporate counsel to come take a seat at the table with us and participate in this essential and exciting work."•

To learn more about ABA Rule of Law programs visit www.abanet.org. Click on "member groups," and then choose from a region listed under "international programs."
You may also wish to visit this site to learn more about the ABA's work as leader in the rule of law field: http://www.rolsymposium.org