In 2022, as a subcontractor to East-West Management Institute, ABA ROLI helped launch a five-year project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Through USAID’s Georgia Rule of Law Program, ABA ROLI seeks to support the implementation of justice reforms aimed at improving the independence, transparency, accountability, and efficiency of core justice institutions, service providers, and actors.
Rule of Law Reform
ABA is organizing a host of study visits and other judicial exchanges. We are introducing Demand Driven Exchange Visits, where the content and structure of the exchanges are driven by the participating Georgian judges themselves. In support of Rule of Law Practice Groups in Georgia, the program designs and delivers study visits to the United States focusing on substantive issues like rights of the child or community engagement, or on procedural issues, like court and case management. ABA ROLI also seconds Georgian judges to US state courts to facilitate professional connections and development. We are also placing US judges in Georgian courts to “shadow” their Georgian counterparts to introduce new case and court management practices and to enhance greater judicial independence. With the active participation of American judges, ABA ROLI also convenes and delivers trainings and workshops for Georgian judges aimed at professional growth and development.
In addition, ABA/ROLI assists in improving national standards on legal education and law school accreditation, sharing the US experience in internal quality assurance mechanisms for legal education, and assisting with practical skills teaching and clinical legal education development across the country, among other activities. We also provide short term expert advisors on topics including judicial appointment and disciplinary practices, legal and judicial ethics, and bench-bar meetings.