Serbia Launches First eLearning Program for Attorney Trainees

February 2008

In December 2007 the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) launched an “eLearning” legal education program in Serbia. This pilot program, the first of this kind ever attempted in the former Yugoslavian country, allows law firm trainees to take relevant legal courses on-line. This unique form of continuing legal education will make it easier to for Serbia’s attorneys to maintain high professional standards and thereby  contribute to a stronger legal sector.

Participants in the program will be able to choose from a course catalog including criminal law, civil law, case-law and procedures of the European Court of Human Rights, legal ethics, Freedom of Information law, international criminal law, law of the European Union, alternative dispute resolution, and others. Each lecture consists of a recorded segment with a power-point presentation, various additional practical samples, hyper-links, resources relevant to the topic, and a self-examination. Trainees are able to follow courses at their own convenience and depending on their daily work schedules. Lectures are presented by prominent local practitioners such as the President of the Supreme Court of Serbia and the country’s Public Information Commissioner.

This stage of the program is designed by ABA ROLI and prepared and implemented in cooperation with the Nis Bar Association and the Faculty of Information Technology in Belgrade. The program will last for 90 days and consists of 20 on-line lectures. In this first, pilot phase, the eLearning program is offered to Nis Bar Association trainees and is limited to 100 participants. Depending on the success and evaluations, the program will be continued by the Nis Bar Association for next generations of trainees, and offered to other bar associations within Serbia, for a potential target population of over 2,000 trainees. 

For the full list of courses and lecturers visit http://www.abaceeliyu.org/eLearn/index-en.html