The Global Forum aims to facilitate the identification, discussion, production, and sharing of innovative and customized legal and institutional tools to address global, regional, or national development challenges. The Global Forum seeks to (1) promote a better understanding of the role of law and justice in the development process through structured South-South and North-South dialogues among relevant stakeholders and a research agenda that will facilitate and support the co-generation of knowledge; (2) strengthen and better integrate legal and judicial institutions in the development process through the carrying out of relevant capacity-building initiatives; and (3) provide access to an open repository of knowledge. The Global Forum will set measurable, sustainable goals for itself in these areas and evaluate its progress.

As a partner in this endeavor, the Section is providing in-kind contributions on a number of thematic topics. The topics are coordinated through five thematic working groups (TWGs) on these overarching themes:

• Environmental and Natural Resources Law
• Governance and Anticorruption
• Empowerment and Equity for Diverse Communities
• Justice Reform/Rule of Law Reform
• Law and the Economy

Members of the ABA and Section are involved in subgroups on the environment and natural resources, inclusion and equity, intellectual property, Islamic finance, justice and rule of law reform, public-private partnerships, sovereign debt, and trade. If you wish to engage with other practitioners to discuss these and other pertinent issues and generate innovative legal solutions for some of the world’s development challenges, please e-mail introl@americanbar.org. To learn more about the Section’s involvement in the Global Forum, please visit our website, http://ambar.org/globalforum.