Uganda's JLOS Holds Workshop To Validate the National Legal Aid Policy

This is a cross posting from the DevLawGeek blog maintained by San:

I have just returned from Uganda where we work in partnership with JLOS, (Justice Law and Order Sector),  an umbrella organization of key government/quasi-government stakeholders in Uganda, for the coordination of access to and administration of justice, simply because these are areas of overlapping jurisdiction between so many actors. For practical (and maybe political?) purposes, it also acts as the channel for much international funding for Access To Justice and Democracy/Governance projects. It comprises of among others, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs (MOJCA), Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA); The Judiciary; Uganda Police Force (UPF), and the Uganda Law Society. 

Uganda, like Rwanda, has been developing a policy document for legal aid, and we had the benefit of attending the stakholders' meeting and reviewing a draft of the document. One issue that we face in many countries, and in Africa in particular, is that legal aid is traditionally seen as free, and in fact, this has been encased in this document. So when we try to introduce an innovative fee-for-service model in legal service delivery for the poor (much like microfinance that charges fees and interests), we run into multiple issues on branding (are we a law firm?), 

Official Announcement from JLOS' website:

Event: ABA presents Exploring Trends in Promoting the Rule of Law

The American Bar Association (ABA) is presenting a workshop on "Exploring Trends in Promoting the Rule of Law".
March 28, 2012, 12:30–7:00 p.m.
Venue Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center
3800 Reservoir Road, NW, Washington, D.C.
Register online 

What is most interesting to us is that Technology and Access to Justice is one of the topics of discussion, which is the niche that BarefootLawyers fell into some years ago by accident, and it is so nice to know that the field is expanding and being promoted by the usual suspects such as the ABA. Their topic description:

Technology and Access to Justice
Technology holds significant potential for increasing access to justice. This panel will share examples of the ways in which technology has already contributed in this area, and, if better utilized, how technology can produce further gains. Does the democracy and governance community have realistic expectations about the potential of technology to increase access to justice and, more generally, to propel justice sector reform?

ABA ROLI to present the Access to Justice Assessment Tool

Please click here to RSVP.

Event Details: March 21, 2012. 10am-2pm
Location: American Society of International Law, at Tillar House
2223 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20008


The Access to Justice Assessment Tool is one in a series of assessment tools developed by experts in technical legal assistance and law reform at the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI). The Tool is a research methodology for assessing the extent to which communities and individuals are able to use justice institutions to solve common justice problems.  It has enabled civil society organizations in countries around the world to conduct professional-quality research on access to justice and to design effective reforms and programming to address access to justice challenges in their communities. Using the Access to Justice Assessment Tool, ABA ROLI’s civil society partners have made important discoveries and generated knowledge with the potential to improve access to justice for the poor and the marginalized.

Namati inviting South Asian participants to M&E Workshop

South Asia Practitioners Fair: Monitoring and Evaluation
19^th – 20^th April 2012, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Namati is teaming up with BRAC, Multiple Action Rights Group (MARG), and Open Society Justice Initiative to offer NGO leaders and senior program managers an opportunity to explore their own monitoring and evaluation plans with some of the world’s leading experts in measuring the impact of legal empowerment.

You’ll have the chance to hear about the latest methodologies used in the field, and have one-on-one detailed advice from experts on the most suitable approach for your own needs, as well as input in planning your own research. By the end of the workshop, you will come away with concrete plans for understanding and documenting the impact of your work.

Inaugural Singapore Clinical Legal Education Conference and Workshop March 16-17, 2012

Inaugural Singapore Clinical Legal Education Conference and CLE Community Legal Education Training of Trainers Workshop

by

Singapore Management University in partnership with

Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia CLE,

Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia CLE Singapore, and

Northumbria International Journal of Clinical Legal Education

Synopsis

The importance of pro bono work was emphasised during the Opening of Legal Year 2012, with the Chief Justice articulating the need to actively cultivate a culture of doing pro bono work.

It is against this backdrop that the Inaugural Singapore Clinical Legal Education Conference and CLE Training of Trainers Workshop are launched. The Conference and Workshop will serve as a forum to create opportunities for promoting Clinical Legal Education (CLE) in Singapore, the ASEAN region and the globe. The promotion of CLE ties in well with the expressed desire to revitalise Singapore’s pro bono scene.

Top 5 Legal IT technologies of 2012

Following my last post on review of 2010/11 Legal Tech, here is what Jason from No Option for Law Firm thinks are the top legal technologies for 2012 ie emerging technology for Legal in 2012 or that will be technology that will feature heavily in Legal in 2012. (And bear in mind, this is the US he is talking about, it will be a while before Africa gets that kind of broadband, even for law firms)

• Speech Recognition
• Windows Phone/Android/iPhone : Or more to the point, the death of the blackberry in Legal.
• SharePoint (Jason's on the fence about this, although I think that Law Firms will not be leaning toward Google Apps)
• The return of the laptop/netbook : not that they ever really went away.
• A new vendor emerging as a major Legal IT player : Jason thinks that the market is ripe for a new Legal focussed player to emerge. "I’m not sure where, but there seem to be plenty of opportunities for technology focus in Legal that aren’t being addressed or existing technology that is perhaps being forgotten as the traditional players diversify into other verticals."
• There are things from the last few years that will continue in 2012, Office 2010 becoming the default platform and IM continuing to proliferate around Legal. But these feel more business as usual now. 

Read Jason Plant's post on his No Option for Law Firm Blog

Top 5 Legal IT technologies for 2010 and 2011 in Review

This list from Jason Plant’s Blog (who is an IT expert who works in a law firm, who will post the 2012 list tomorrow) :

My 2010 list was as follows:

• Mobile Applications

• Search

• Office 2010/Windows 7

• Instant Messaging

• Speech Recognition

And then in 2011 was:

• Glue Tech

• Microsoft Lync

• YouTube

• Mobile Applications

• Office 2010 and Windows 7

And I love what he said about the pace of legal tech, which underscores the overall pace of change, adaptability and innovation in the industry:

"...it’s clear that things don’t move at a fast pace across the whole of Legal."

Legal Opinion delivered via Poetry

I read about this recent piece of brilliant poetry aka legal opinion on Martin Gramatikov's Access to Justice blog, and just had to share. This is an awesome twist to innovation in justice- using not new technology like cell phones or the internet (which we often blog about on this site), but old fashioned poetry. Admittedly, this judgement so much easier to read and understand than a typical legal document. Gives some food for thought about the dissemination of legal knowledge for legal empowerment- maybe we can have legal information in poetry via SMS!

(reproduced partially from the legal opinion of Commonwealth v. Goodson here):

In January, 2001, appellant’s car was in a collision.
His insurer totaled the aging New Yorker, then made a just division
of the value of the insurance claim, sending $6,289 to the lender;
the balance of $135, to appellant they made tender.