August 2009
In July and August, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) hosted a delegation of 12 Vietnamese officials, educators and lawyers for the first phase of a U.S.-Vietnam bar exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The 28-day study tour was designed to support the development of a professionally skilled, civically engaged and ethical Vietnamese bar.
The study exchange comes at a particularly important moment in Vietnam’s legal development, as Vietnam inaugurated its first national bar association, the Vietnam Bar Federation (VBF), in May 2009. The bar was created in connection with ongoing legal system reforms. The VBF will play an important role in legal reforms, including improving legal education both in law schools and through continuing legal education, increasing bar membership and those services available through the bar, and enhancing professional regulation through ethics training and codes of conduct.
Over the course of the tour, the delegation traveled to Chicago, Illinois; Seattle, Washington and Washington, D.C. Among other activities, they attended the American Bar Association’s annual meeting and spent a week in residence at the University of Washington Law School.
To learn more about our programs in Vietnam, contact the ABA Rule of Law Initiative at [email protected].