It has been a very busy year for Proyecto ACCESO as we expand our citizen education campaigns, skills-training, and product line, all designed to strengthen the rule of law in the Americas. I am writing to highlight some of ACCESO’s current activities that strive to create innovative and entertaining programs to increase access to justice and build confidence in the legal institutions of the Western Hemisphere.

Building a New Generation of Legal Professionals:

ACCESO’s Oral Advocacy Training Sessions:
As Latin American countries transition their criminal procedure systems from the inquisitorial to adversarial approach, lawyers must adapt and learn to use expert witnesses and the cross-examination technique while judges must familiarize themselves with oral, rather than written, testimony.

ACCESO Capacitación, the training unit of Proyecto ACCESO, continues to develop engaging means by which Latin American legal professionals can acquire these skills. Our learning by doing methodology continues to win grants and contracts with the German government, the U.S. State Department, and Ministries of Justice around the region.

Let me give you an example of the work we are doing in the area of oral advocacy training:

Chile:
In April 2004, ACCESO trainers Claudio Pavlic and Michael Mandig launched the new Advanced Oral Advocacy workshop in Santiago. Covering everything from how to lead expert witnesses to the use of computers in the courtroom, this training was sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and California Western School of Law. All the participants won Janeen Kerper Scholarships to attend the workshops. The late Professor Kerper was a co-founder of Proyecto ACCESO.

Ecuador:
ACCESO Capacitación built on the visit of U.S. District Court Judge Irma Gonzalez, a Member of the Board of Trustees of California Western School of Law in November 2003, by launching an oral advocacy training seminar in Quito, Ecuador. From all over the country, public defense attorneys, and lawyers for the prison system, social services, religious institutions, non-profit institutions and citizen advocacy groups were selected in a national process. ACCESO trainer Michael Mandig jointed with Chilean trainers Claudio Pavlic and Carmen Gloria Ormeño to provide advanced skills necessary in the new transparent and adversarial trial system of the small Andean country. Working with local partners Fundación Fabian Ponce, the Catholic University of Ecuador, and the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador, ACCESO empowered the next generation of oral advocates.

Costa Rica:
Just a few weeks ago, Lilia Velasquez, who teaches at California Western School of Law and Michael Mandig returned from Costa Rica, where they participated in ACCESO’s annual oral advocacy training workshops. The goal of our program in the Central American country has been to prepare a new set of local trainers to continue the work of ACCESO. To enrich the authenticity and credibility of our workshops, ACCESO trainers worked side by side with local instructors, empowering the latter to become judicial reform leaders.

Upcoming Training Activities:
In the coming months, ACCESO will return to Chile for a five-day oral advocacy workshop at the Universidad de los Andes from August 23 to 27, 2004. Trainers from these workshops, Pepe Martinez, Georgy Schubert, were original participants in ACCESO’s first Judicial Reform Training Academy held in October 2000 at California Western School of Law for new public defenders in Chile.

New Initiative:
Training for Intellectual Property Rights Protection and Enforcement
As you may know, the streets of the world are filled with vendors selling pirated copies of books, compact discs, DVDs and clothing. What many people have recently come to learn, however, is that the money gleaned from this theft often finance terrorist groups such as Hezbollah. To be sure, the devastating effects of intellectual property rights violations have not gone unrecognized nor has Chile’s high potential for legitimate electronic commerce within its export and service-orientated economy. On January 1, 2004, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the United States and Chile went into force. Theoretically, the FTA will provide new procedures to enhance and sustain intellectual property protection; practically speaking, however, a long Chilean history of lax enforcement in this area may impede the success of the trade agreement.

In an effort to facilitate progress, Proyecto ACCESO has teamed up with the U.S. Embassy in Chile, industry associations, and the Economic Crimes section of the Chilean Prosecutors office, to lead and coordinate the first-ever Intellectual Property Week. The event lasts from September 27 to October 1, 2004 and features a number of cutting-edge programs, including training workshops in investigation, evidence gathering, and presentation before tribunals for Chilean prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officials to be taught with support from a U.S. prosecutor and an FBI agent.

We will also be coordinating a number of public forums dedicated to building a national consensus to battle piracy. More information about intellectual property and terrorism can be found on Interpol’s website (www.interpol.org) or at http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/TerrOrgCrime_TBA.pdf.

The ACCESO team will also extend the knowledge and excitement of Intellectual Property Week to children and young adults through a variety of public education campaigns that will explain the negative effects of piracy. With our pilot children’s TV programming and education curriculum, we will use popular culture to promote law-abiding behavior. Lastly, we will organize a set of workshops for artists and musicians concerning the mechanisms to protect intellectual property rights.

Post-Graduate Program in Judicial Reform
In May 2004, three distinct legal cultures mixed for a novel experiment in education. With the support and involvement of the University of Heidelberg, through its Heidelberg Center for Latin America, the University of Chile, and California Western School of Law, along with the German government technical cooperation agency (GTZ), university professors, law enforcement officials and judges from Europe, North and South America came together to launch the first post-graduate diploma program of its kind, "The Rule of Law and Judicial Reform" at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago. The post-graduate program runs until November 5, 2004.

Professors from Chile, Germany and the United States meet regularly with program participants to compare their national laws and juridical approaches and develop new ways to solve problems that affect their respective countries. California Western School of Law Professor Thomas Barton, Justin Brooks, Director of the California Innocence Project at California Western School of Law, New York Supreme Court Judge Laura Safer Espinoza, a co-founder of Proyecto ACCESO and U.S. Magistrate James Stiven of San Diego, are all part of this year’s U.S. team of instructors.

Working with the top law professors and law enforcement officials from Germany and Chile, we have put together the ultimate crash course in how to undertake a national project in judicial reform. ACCESO is thrilled to initiate an international dialogue on the rule of law and the unique reforms that are sweeping Chile as well as coordinate a forum to compare national laws and juridical approaches and develop new ways to solve the problems that affect the Americas. The program is co-sponsored by Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Max Planck Institute on Comparative Law and Public Law, and the Ministry of Justice of Chile.

Thank you for the opportunity to update you on the progress of our non-profit group as we work with local partners to build human capacity to better administrate justice and strengthen the rule of law.

We welcome opportunities to speak with those interested in contributing to or learning more about the work we do. Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information at [email protected].

You can always visit us at www.proyectoacceso.com

Sincerely,

James M. Cooper
Director, Proyecto ACCESO