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+ tec el 4 de marzo, 2003
On
Tuesday March 4, 2003, international diplomats, prosecutors, public
defenders, ministry of justice officials, legal educators, and law
students came together in Santiago, Chile to celebrate the life and
legacy of Janeen Kerper. Ms. Kerper died of cancer on January 16,
2003 after a long battle with lung cancer. A professor of law at California
Western School of Law, Janeen was a pioneer of legal design and judicial
innovation and a co-founder of Proyecto ACCESO.
The presenters spanned the Western Hemispheres legal sector.
Lawyers from Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Germany and the United States
detailed the legal technologies that are being developed in the Americas
and tested in different countries.
Carmen Gloria Ormeño, a public defender from the Ninth Region
of Chile, moderated the discussion and gave a tribute to Janeen Kerper.
Ms. Ormeño studied with Janeen at Proyecto ACCESO courses in
Temuco and San Diego, California, Carmen Gloria paid tribute to Janeens
legacy and her role in developing cutting edge curricula to teach
new tools required for the judicial reform throughout Latin America
and her love of the region.
Steven
Smith, Dean of California Western School of Law also paid tribute
to the role that Janeen Kerper played in legal education, both in
North and South America. For Dean Smith, Janeen exemplified the public
service role that lawyers can take in their respective careers. The
technologies that Janeen created have been used to train a new generation
of legal professionals in Chile, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Paraguay.
Her legendary teaching and caring approach to the legal profession
inspired many judges and lawyers as many Latin American countries
transitioned to from the inquisitorial model to more open, transparent
trials.
A number of the speakers at the conference featured new technologies
that have recently emerged in Chile as part of this transition process.
Jorg Stippel, a German lawyer who works for the German technical cooperation
agency and in the Chilean Ministry of Justice, demonstrated several
of the multimedia educational tools he produced in 2002. The new enhanced
CD, Re-Musica, was a particular hit with the audience, as Dr. Stippel
danced to a merengue song from the CD that featured lyrics about judicial
reform. Geared to at-risk youth and the law student market, the CD
also features the new criminal procedure, international human rights
documents, and videos of Chiles top musicians performing music
commissioned to disseminate information about the countrys judicial
procedures.
Yerko Ilijic, a Bolivian lawyer working with the Ministry of Justice
in Chile, talked about his Casa de Justicia, a visual model to explain
the new criminal procedure laws and their benefits, to high school
students. Sr. Ilijic spoke about the good part of globalization
the development of legal technologies that combine the plastic arts
with public education programming. Ideas concerning the role of video
cameras and safety regulations in public spaces and the manner in
which they interact with the right of privacy were unveiled.
James
Cooper, a Canadian lawyer who directs Proyecto ACCESO and is Assistant
Dean at California Western School of Law, spoke of Janeens contribution
to judicial innovation and her love of multiculturalism. James then
introduced the new documentary film Una Nueva Justicia en Marcha,
which will also be released on DVD in April 2003.
For many of the audience, the film came as a surprise, combining the
music of Re-Musica with imagery shot in mid-December in La Paz, Bolivia,
Arica, Chile and the train line between the two cities.
Said one prosecutor in the Public Ministry: "This film really
captures the spirit of the reform movement as it goes across the country."
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