Six Kyrgyzstani Universities to Introduce Practical Skills Courses

September 2013

This month, six Kyrgyzstani universities will begin to offer three practical skills courses that the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) and a working group of Kyrgyzstani legal professionals developed. Expanding its efforts to train Kyrgyzstani law students in lawyering skills, ABA ROLI cooperated with the working group of local professors and lawyers to design the courses. The universities agreed to incorporate the courses into their curricula following the completion of the first drafts in June.

To help complement and strengthen the largely theoretical nature of education in most Kyrgyzstani universities, the courses provide students with hands-on experience and realistic simulations of the work of an attorney. The courses—which address interviewing and consulting with clients, the roles of each party in a legal proceeding and during trial, and defense attorneys’ tactics in pre-trial stages of a proceeding—will enhance participating students’ skills and confidence in practicing law post-graduation.

The working group developed course materials, syllabi, and teaching and study guides for each of the three courses. Members of the working group also assisted ABA ROLI in securing support from the Ministry of Education and offered guidance to the six universities that will offer the courses this fall. They also helped train 12 law professors on the courses’ content and interactive methodology.

The courses will make practical legal training, which previously was offered only in six ABA ROLI-supported legal clinics, available to a greater number of law students. The U.S. Agency for International Development supports the initiative.

To learn more about our work in Kyrgyzstan, please contact the ABA Rule of Law Initiative at rol@americanbar.org.