California Western School of Law, the U.S. home of Proyecto ACCESO, is joining with the University of Heidelberg (through its Heidelberg Center for Latin America), the Faculty of Law at the University of Chile, and the German government’s technical cooperation agency (GTZ) to create the first ever post-graduate program in comparative judicial reform and rule of law. The academic program will be launched at the University of Chile’s Law Faculty on Monday, May 3, 2004 and feature a number of U.S. instructors from California Western School of Law and German instructors from the University of Heidelberg. The program is co-sponsored by Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Ministry of Justice of Chile.

For a desciption and the outline of the program, please click here

Three Countries Launch Comparative Law Post-Graduate Certificate Diploma

On May 3, 2004 three distinct legal cultures will mix for a novel experiment in education. University professors, law enforcement officials and judges from Europe, North and South America will come together to launch the first post-graduate diploma program of its kind - "The Rule of Law and Judicial Reform". The University of Heidelberg through its Heidelberg Center for Latin America, the Faculty of Law at the University of Chile, and Calfornia Western School of Law in San Diego, along with the German government technical cooperation agency GTZ have joined to build the rule of law and learn from the unique reforms that are sweeping Chile.

"It has long been a dream to develop a program such as this," exclaimed Jörg Stippel, a German lawyer who heads the German government´s rule of law program in Chile. The idea of a comparative law program came to Stippel, who works in the Ministry of Justice, last year as he worked with other foreign and local judicial reform specialists. "We need to better understand what we are doing, how we are doing it, and how we can do it better," he explained. Stippel approached the Heidelberg Center, the University of Chile and Proyecto ACCESO, a legal skills training program headquartered at a U.S. not for profit law school, to develop this once in a lifetime opportunity.

"In this difficult time when there is talk of Old Europe and New Europe, when the major powers are divided, we thought it would be great to find ways to show what we have in common," said James Cooper, Assistant Dean at California Western School of Law, "What we share is a commitment to the rule of law and the desire to spread it around the Hemisphere."

The post-graduate program will feature a series of lectures and workshops for Chilean legal professionals, diplomats, politicians and journalists all related to legal areas subject to the reform process. Since 2000, Chile has undertaken an intensive reform process in its criminal procedures as it moves from the Inquisitorial system to the adversarial system. More than $US500 million has been spent in the process and the reform is due in the metropolitan region of Santiago in June 2005.

With this in mind, the partners thought a considered study of the reform process, and those that must follow, was due. "The time was right to bring some pedagogy to the exercise of reform," said Professor Maria Ines Horvitz of the law school at the University of Chile, and a professor in the program. "We have much to learn from each other."

Professors from the 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. Federal Magistrate Judge James Stiven of San Diego, a member of the Board of Trustees of California Western School of Law, will lecture on U.S. Constitutional Law.

Professor Barton

California Western School of Law Professor Thomas Barton is scheduled to open the sessions on American law on May 10th with a lecture on the U.S. approach to the rule of law. Justin Brooks, Director of the California Innocence Project and Institute Professor of Law at California Western School of Law, will lecture on comparative criminal law on August 2, 2004 and provide a number of workshops on the use of DNA evidence while in Chile. New York Supreme Court Judge Laura Safer Espinoza a co-founder of Proyecto ACCESO at California Western School of Law, will also lecture in the post-graduate program on August 11th.

Professor Dr. Johannes Feest of the University of Bremen, Professor Dr. Rainer Grote of the Max Plank Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Hamburg Police Chief Reinhardt Bromm, Professor Dr. Reinhard Mußgnug of the University of Heidelberg, and Professor Dr. Felix Herzog of the Humboldt University of Berlin are all coming from Germany to teach in the course. Chilean professors include Miguel Soto, Raul Nunez, and Francisco Maldonado, all from the University of Chile´s Faculty of Law. The program runs from early May to November 2004.

"This is a very unique approach and we are most excited to be be part of this post-graduate program," said Dr. Walter Eckel, Executive Director of the Heidelberg Center for Latin America, "Chile is a leader in the Criminal Legal Reform and there is now movement toward reform in other legal areas as well. This is a great opportunity to take the best lessons from each legal culture and help promote justice issues in Latin America."

The program is co-sponsored by Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Ministry of Justice of Chile.

For more information, please call James Cooper at the California Western School of Law in San Diego at 619 525 1430 or contact him by email at [email protected].