World Bank hosts first Law, Justice and Development Week 2011 - Innovation and Empowerment for Development, November 14-17, Washington, DC

For the first time, Law, Justice and Development Week 2011 will be a Bank Group-wide event organized by the World Bank Legal Vice Presidency, IFC and MIGA Legal Departments, and ICSID. This will be a forum to explore how legal innovation and empowerment can contribute to development. Registration now open !

Study reports access to justice gaps in many South Pacific nations

via Access to Justice Blog by mgramatikov on 10/27/11

Recently published Needs evaluation survey by the South Pacific Lawyers Association reveal significant access to justice gaps in most of the studied countries:

• Australia 
• Papua New Guinea 
• Cook Islands 
• Republic of the Fiji Islands 
• Kingdom of Tonga 
• Samoa 
• Kiribati 
• Solomon Islands 
• Nauru 
• Timor Leste 
• New Zealand 
• Tuvalu 
• Niue 
• Vanuatu 
• Norfolk Island 

Tools to Create an Unbundled-Orriented Lawyer Referral Service

via Richard Zorza's Access to Justice Blog by richardzorza on 10/31/11

The time is long past for every jurisdiction that allows unbundling — and of course now most do, to have such services available through lawyer referral and information services, ideally through a panel of the existing lawyer referral system. Lets face it, thats where the clients without lawyers enter into the system, and it is hard to understand why more LRIS do not offer this crucial affordability tool, particularly given the poll data on the public's interest in exploring the option.

So it is important to draw attention to these LRIS Unbundling materials developed to assist in the creation of such a panel. (Remember, of course that state law governs as to who is allowed to operate such a lawyer referral service.)

World Bank's Law, Justice and Development E-Newsletter, September 2011

The newest Law, Justice and Development E-Newsletter is out. Started last year, this is a quarterly e-newsletter providing news, perspectives and events relating to Law, Justice and Development topics. It is produced by the World Bank's Legal Vice Presidency with contributions from experts inside and outside the World Bank.

Microjustice Initiative's 'Access to Justice' Handbook

In light of my previous post on the UNDP Paper on Evaluation Methodologies for Legal Empowerment, my colleague from Tilburg University informed me that Microjustice Initiative (with TISCO, HIIL and Microjustice Workplace) has published a new methodology on measuring access to justice. You can download it here. 

Essentially, it is one of the budding set of literature on measuring access to justice from the subjective perspective (ie, not using the usual top-down, World Bank-like indicators), and provides a detailed description, with questionnaires, for measuring access by aggregating individual experiences of the justice process. Very interesting to me how the field of 'legal empowerment' and 'access to justice' has grown, thanks in large part to the UN Commission of Legal Empowerment of the Poor. 

Frontline SMS Legal

I have been familiar with FrontlineSMS since my days at The Asia Foundation, and in fact have thought about using that technology on many occasions for our projects. I love the idea, but it was still in the rather early stages of deployment then. I recently talked to Sean McDonald today about FrontlineSMS Legal, which builds on the original core Frontline to expand functionality for people in the legal world, in particular, as a SMS-based case management system of sorts. Legal is still in the early stages of development, but I can't wait till I can see a beta version to help test it, using the Microjustice field offices. 

American Bar Association eLawyering Website

It's more than just a web presence- read the fundamentals of providing legal services over the internet, as well as innovative best practices (with a US-slant of course): 

From the American Bar Association eLawyering website:

"How can I practice law over the Internet?" This web site will help you find answers to that question.

eLawyering is doing legal work - not just marketing - over the Web. Pioneering practitioners have found dramatic new ways to communicate and collaborate with clients and other lawyers, produce documents, settle disputes, interact with courts, and manage legal knowledge. ELawyering encompasses all the ways in which lawyers can do their work using the Web and associated technologies. Think of lawyering as a "verb" - interview, investigate, counsel, draft, advocate, analyze, negotiate, manage, .. - and there are corresponding Internet-based tools and technologies.

There are exciting initiatives underway now that deserve attention by all lawyers - present and future. While admittedly just a subset of the vast legal technology world, eLawyering and its lawyer-less analogs present fundamental challenges for our profession. There are great dangers, but also great opportunities for attorneys in the coming decade. To be successful in the coming era, lawyers will need to know how to practice over the Web, manage client relationships in cyberspace, and ethically offer "unbundled" services.

Top Human Rights Groups and Global Networks: A Primer

Microblogged from DevEx- one of my main sources of development information, on its list of what it considers to be the most renowned international organizations and networks focused on the promotion of human rights.:

The basic principles of human rights are ancient, but it’s only in the last 50 years or so that human rights organizations have begun to pop up. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, includes education, health care, food and many other areas of focus for the international development community. It’s no wonder, then, that aid groups are increasingly framing their work in the context of human rights, whether they advocate for sex workers’ rights or help boost primary school attendance. Highlighting human rights can broaden the scope and appeal of global activism and advocacy campaigns – and it may help secure funding at a time it is increasingly difficult to come by.



Here are some of the most renowned international organizations and networks focused on the promotion of human rights.

Human rights groups
Amnesty International
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Type: nonprofit network
Founded: 1961
Secretary general: Salil Shetty
Focus: research and advocacy is broken down into 25 broad categories focusing on children, indigenous peoples, health and other issues
Members: more than 3 million network supporters, activists and members in more than 150 countries and territories

Amnesty International is arguably the world’s prime, multifaceted human rights organization, operating as both a network and a reliable, detailed research database. Amnesty’s strength lies partly in its girth: Through its offices in more than 80 countries, Amnesty regularly produces short analyses and in-depth reports on issues related to human rights. Amnesty engages its supporters through petitions posted on its website and shared via Facebook or Twitter. Amnesty’s user-friendly website has a search function and allows browsing through by country and topic.

Human Rights First
Headquarters: New York City and Washington, D.C., USA
Type: nonprofit
Founded: 1978
President and CEO: Elisa Massimino
Focus: research and advocacy; programs include providing assistance to asylum seekers to the United States and advocating against U.S. counterterrorism measures amounting to torture
Staff: 57 per HRF website

Human Rights First conducts fact-finding and advocacy work on a global scale but often geared toward the U.S. government. For instance, HRF works to protect human rights defenders, refugees and asylum seekers around the globe but often stresses U.S. accountability on these and other issues, whether it is pushing the United States to close its military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or pressing U.S. officials to raise human rights abuses with world leaders. HRF offers a pro bono program for lawyers to represent asylum seekers in the United States, and in a recent publicity stunt, one attorney biked across the United States to raise awareness and funds for the group’s work. HRF’s website is fairly basic but gives a good overview of the human rights situation stateside as well as in certain parts of the Middle East.

Human Rights Watch
Headquarters: New York City, USA
Type: nonprofit
Founded: 1968
Executive director: Kenneth Roth
Focus: research and advocacy to prevent discrimination, uphold political freedom, protect people from inhuman conduct in wartime, and bring offenders to justice
Staff: 280 worldwide

Human Rights Watch compiles information on human rights in nearly every country, often through grass-roots networking. On its website, topics are broken down into 12 broad categories (including refugees, United Nations, health and arms) and even more subcategories, totaling close to 90 listings. Each year, HRW publishes more than 100 studies, including its mammoth World Report. Its in-depth reports – five were published in May 2011 alone – provide ample information about hard-to-reach regions and marginalized issues.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Type: U.N. office
Founded: 1993
High commissioner: Navanethem Pillay
Focus: standard-setting, monitoring, on-the-ground implementation
Staff: more than 850 in Geneva, New York, 11 country offices and seven regional offices around the world

As secretariat of the U.N. Human Rights Council, OHCHR works to mainstream a human rights focus through all United Nations programs and agencies. Outside the U.N. system, it facilitates partnerships with various international institutions such as the International Criminal Court, civil society organizations and governments. The office’s website provides fact sheets, research papers as well as free, downloadable training and educational materials such as guides, manuals and handbooks – including some specifically geared toward human rights monitors and social workers. It also showcases routine assessments conducted by its country and regional offices, as well as other background and news.

United for Human Rights
Headquarters: Los Angeles, USA
Type: nonprofit
Founded: 2004
Executive director: Michele Kirkland
Focus: provides free educational materials on human rights
Staff: 3

United for Human Rights makes books, videos and other educational material available free to educators. Its sister organization, Youth for Human Rights International, produced the acclaimed “United” anti-bullying music video. United’s website offers a brief explanation of human rights and their history, as well as one-minute public service videos exploring 30 of these rights. The human rights education packages mailed by the nonprofit are geared toward high school and college students, and include a documentary and 24 copies of a booklet that discusses the story of human rights. The website also offers suggestions for taking action in your own community to challenge human rights violations.


International human rights networks

Association for Women’s Rights in Development
Headquarters: Toronto, Canada
Type: international network
Founded: 1982
Executive director: Lydia Alpízar Durán
Focus: creates capacity-building strategies to strengthen women’s rights, supports women’s rights advocates and organizations, lobbies international institutions and actors
Members: nearly 5,000 individual and more than 3,000 institutional members in 130 countries

AWID campaigns such as “Where is the Money for Women’s Rights?” and “Influencing Development Actors and Practices for Women’s Rights” involve topical research, networking and lobbying. The association’s Young Feminist Activism initiative offers a way for young feminists to become involved with the organization and to receive a special online newsletter. AWID’s website features reports and news briefs of a feminist bent; its “Urgent Action” section features online petitions and other ways to support feminist human rights defenders and movements that are under threat. The site also showcases gender-related training courses and conferences worldwide, as well as fellowship ads and solicitations for research papers. Outside Toronto, AWID has offices in Mexico City and Cape Town, South Africa.

Child Rights Information Network
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
Type: international network
Founded: 1995
Director: Veronica Yates
Focus: advocacy campaigns and analysis to promote and defend children’s rights
Members: more than 2,100 organizations in 150 countries

Guided by the United Nations’ Convention of the Rights of the Child, CRIN helps to elevate campaigns and coalitions, as well as to enforce treaties, that call for full respect of children’s rights. CRIN’s website includes country pages that don’t just provide news and analysis (in multiple languages) but also links to relevant international and domestic laws ratified by each country. The website also contains topic pages, an “Ask the Expert” function and an advanced search for laws affecting children around the globe.

Global Network of Sex Work Projects
Headquarters: Edinburgh, Scotland
Type: international network
Founded: 1990
President: Andrew Hunter
Focus: “influences policy and builds leadership among sex workers”
Members: more than 100 institutions

Evolved from a loose alliance of activists more than 20 years ago, NSWP has emerged as a leader in supporting human rights policy for sex workers. The association and its members oppose the criminalization of sex work. They conduct research and speak out at international health and trafficking forums, as well as various eventsNSWP organizes each year, including the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers in December, the International Sex Workers’ Rights Day in March, and a film festival in London. At these events – and on NSWP’s website – they circulate “Research for Sex Work” and “Making Sex Work Safe,” publications intended for sex workers, researchers, health activists and others. NSWP’s website is fairly basic; it features the work of its partners by region.

Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems, International (HURIDOCS)
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Type: international NGO
Founded: 1982
Executive director: Daniel D’Esposito
Focus: improve documentation methods and information technologies
Members: 40 affiliated NGOs

HURIDOCS provides advice and support to international human rights organizations in various ways, ranging from personalized consultations via phone or email correspondence to on-site support and training. Simply put, the organization helps human rights groups process, analyze, store and present research and other documents in an organized, safe manner. HURIDOCS offers advice on how to best document human rights violations or witness testimonies, for instance, and it engages in longer-term partnerships aimed at setting up documentation management tools that could be used for litigation or other reasons. HURIDOCS tries to provide all of its services free of charge to organizations based in the Global South, and works on a cost-sharing basis with institutions based elsewhere.

International Federation for Human Rights
Headquarters: Paris, France
Type: international network
Foundation: 2009
International Secretariat CEO: Antoine Bernard
Focus: “action priorities” include ending impunity of human rights violators, facilitating the work of human rights defenders and promoting universality of all rights, especially those of women and migrants
Staff: 30 in Paris
Members: 164 organizations

FIDH’s members are active around the globe, including in countries like Myanmar, North Korea and Zimbabwe where human rights work can be tricky. FIDH’s website, which can be viewed in English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian, among other languages, provides easy access to all of its partner organizations – a convenient feature when you’re searching for human rights groups in a particular country. The website also offers timely and in-depth information, press releases and open letters on various issues such as migrants’ rights, terrorism, women’s rights and international justice. Only nonprofits can become FIDH members, although individuals and companies can become “friends” by donating.

International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association
Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium
Type: international network
Founded: 1978
Secretaries general: Gloria Careaga and Renato Sabbadini
Focus: campaigning for the rights of lesbian, gay, bi-, trans- and intersexual people
Members: 690 groups in 110 countries
ILGA works with its partners to draw public and government attention to discrimination against LGBTI persons through programs, protests, media work and diplomacy. ILGA’s website provides ample information on discriminatory practices, laws and attitudes toward people because of their sexual and gender identity; it features an organization directory, topical and regional pages with news and action alerts, as well as a world map that allows site visitors to filter only countries that consider transgenderism a mental illness or punish female-to-female relationships, among a host of other options. Perhaps a unique aspect of the site is the “Your Stories” section, which provides an open forum for LGBTI people to share their experiences and thoughts. Any organization can join ILGA, whose members gather every year or two.

World Organization Against Torture
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Type: international network
Founded: 1986
Secretary-general: Eric Sottas
Focus: fight against “torture, summary executions, enforced disappearances and all other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”
Members: 297 affiliate members in the SOS-Torture network

The Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture is the world’s main coalition of NGOs fighting torture. Its 297 member organizations, present in 97 countries, serve as its eyes, ears and supporting hands that work alongside OMCT’s International Secretariat in Geneva to report and follow up on cases of abuse and torture.OMCT is the only organization that provides legal, medical, social and other forms of assistance to individuals at risk or victims of torture; it also helps protect human rights defenders, women who have faced or are at risk of facing violence, and vulnerable children. OMCT mounts “urgent campaigns” and issues appeals every day to government authorities around the globe in response to reported cases of torture. Member organizations – all listed on the OMCT website – gain special access to information on U.N. human rights bodies.

These are only some of the many organizations and networks with a strong human rights focus. Others are doing equally important and unique work to help individuals around the globe protect and uphold human rights. Please let us know if we forgot to list any institution focusing squarely on human rights work.

Berkman Center Series 11 July 2011: Cultivating New voices, Approaches, and Audiences for national - and international - reporting in an era of global interconnectedness and shrinking news budgets

The Berkman Center will host a conversation about the challenges of reporting international stories to US and Global audiences. In an age of shrinking news budgets, American newspapers and broadcasters are producing less original reporting of international stories. And while gripping events like the Arab Spring capture the attention of the public, many important international stories fail to garner widespread attention. The challenges for international reporting are both ones of supply (who reports the news from around the world?) and demand (who pays attention?).

This conversation was inspired by Berkman Fellow Persephone Miel, whose work focused on how compelling narrative and context for international stories could make unfamiliar international news more accessible to American and global audiences. Her efforts to support and promote talented local, non-US journalists whose work has the potential for global impact, but who need to overcome significant obstacles to succeed, are continued through a fellowship established in her honor by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, in partnership with Internews. Journalists Fatima Tlisova (Voice of America) and Pulitzer Prize winner Dele Olojede will join Ethan Zuckerman (Berkman Center/Global Voices), Colin Maclay (Berkman Center), Ivan Sigal (Global Voices), Jon Sawyer (Pulizter Center) and the Miel family for a discussion and reflection on these questions, and on Persephone's work and the journalistic values she championed. URL: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/6927



Monday, July 11, 5:00 pm
Harvard Law School, Location TBA
Free and Open to the Public; RSVP required via the form below
This event will be webcast live at 5:00 pm ET and archived on our site shortly after.Reception to follow


This conversation was inspired by Berkman Fellow Persephone Miel, whose work focused on how compelling narrative and context for international stories could make unfamiliar international news more accessible to American and global audiences. Her efforts to support and promote talented local, non-US journalists whose work has the potential for global impact, but who need to overcome significant obstacles to succeed, are continued through a fellowship established in her honor by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, in partnership with Internews. Journalists Fatima Tlisova (Voice of America) and Pulitzer Prize winner Dele Olojede will join Ethan Zuckerman (Berkman Center/Global Voices), Colin Maclay (Berkman Center), Ivan Sigal (Global Voices), Jon Sawyer (Pulizter Center) and the Miel family for a discussion and reflection on these questions, and on Persephone's work and the journalistic values she championed. URL: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/6927

Fatima Tlisova is an investigative journalist, researcher and expert on the North Caucasus region of Russia. She has written extensively on Circassian nationalism, the role of Islam in regional affairs, human rights abuses during the military operations in the North Caucasus, torture, disappearances and corruption. She was Editor in Chief of the Regnum News Agency, worked as a special correspondent of Novaya Gazeta, and reported for RFE/RL and for the Associated Press.


Dele Olojede is the publisher of NEXT, NextOnSunday and 234NEXT.com, which provide news and informed opinion primarily for a Nigerian audience to further the common good. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a former foreign editor at New York Newsday, he is chairman of the Global Network Initiative International Advisory Council and a member of the governing board of the Aspen Institute's Africa Leadership Initiative.

Ethan Zuckerman served a fellow of the Berkman Center from 2003 through 2009. Since 2009, he's been a senior researcher at the center, working on projects that focus on the impact of technology and media on the developing world and on quantitative analysis of media. With Hal Roberts, he is working on comparative studies of tools for censorship circumvention, techniques for blocking-resistant publishing for human rights sites and on the Media Cloud framework for quantitative study of digital media.

Colin M. Maclay is the Managing Director of the Berkman Center, where he is privileged to work in diverse capacities with its faculty, staff, fellows and extended community to realize its ambitious goals. His broad aim is to effectively and appropriately integrate information and communication technologies (ICTs) with social and economic development, focusing on the changes Internet technologies foster in society, policy and institutions.

Ivan Sigal is the Executive Director of Global Voices (http://globalvoicesonline.org), a non-profit online global citizens’ media initiative. Previously, as a Senior Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Ivan Sigal focused on how increased media and information access and participation using new technologies affect conflict-prone areas. He spent over ten years working in media development in the former Soviet Union and Asia, supporting and training journalists and working on media co-productions, and also working as a photographer. During that time Sigal worked for Internews Network, as Regional Director for Asia, Central Asia, and Afghanistan.

Jon Sawyer is founding director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-profit organization that funds independent reporting with the intent of raising the standard of media coverage and engaging the broadest possible public in global affairs. In its first five years the Center has funded nearly 200 international reporting projects, partnering with major newspapers, magazines, broadcast and online outlets as well as universities and high schools across the country. Jon was previously the Washington bureau chief for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for which he reported from five dozen countries. He was selected three years in a row for the National Press Club's award for best foreign reporting.

New paper on Legal Institutions, Innovation and Growth

Legal Institutions, Innovation and Growth

ABSTRACT: We analyze the relationship between legal institutions, innovation and growth. We compare a rigid (law set ex-ante) legal system and a flexible one (law set after observing current technology). The flexible system dominates in terms of welfare, amount of innovation and output growth at intermediate stages of technological development - periods when legal change is needed. The rigid system is preferable at early stages of technological development, when (lack of) commitment problems are severe. For mature technologies the two legal systems are equivalent. We find that rigid legal systems may induce excessive (greater than first-best) R&D investment and output growth.



LUCA ANDERLINI, Georgetown University - Department of Economics
Email: la2@georgetown.edu
LEONARDO FELLI, London School of Economics - Department of Economics, CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research), Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)
Email: lfelli@econ.lse.ac.uk
GIOVANNI IMMORDINO, Università degli Studi di Salerno - Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF)
Email: GIIMMO@TIN.IT
ALESSANDRO RIBONI, University of Montreal - Department of Economics
Email: alessandro.riboni@umontreal.ca

Google search for 'Microjustice' - June 2011

Form time to time, I google certain concepts just to see how much they have taken off. From a term nonexistent in 2005, 'microjustice' today has11.400 entries, the top few which are as follows:

• www.microjustice.org/
• www.odemagazine.com/doc/62/microjustice/
• www.microjusticeinitiative.org/
• microjusticeworkplace.net/
• papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1022936
• www.linkedin.com/groups/Microjustice-Initiative-63732
• microjustice.net/wiki/Main_Page
• http://www.innovatingjustice.com/index.php?pageID=5&innovationID=16
• www.microjustice4all.org/web/?option=com_content
• www.microjusticeuganda.org/
• http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/research/institutes-and-research-groups/tisco/research/projects/micro/
• http://www.innovatingjustice.com/index.php?pageID=34&partnershipID=35
• http://internetbar.org/tag/micro-justice/

Met with Jin Ho Verdonscot from Tilburg

Finally met Jin Ho Verdonscot at the Imperial Hotel in downtown Kampala today. Jin Ho, a researcher at Tilburg University Law School, has been my virtual counterpart for years. We had a great talk about microjustice and how technology can help with legal empowerment. He is also a part of TISCO, which I blogged about before. Ahh, he inspires me with his recent list of publications:

• Gramatikov, M.A., & Verdonschot, J.H. (2010). Legal needs of vulnerable people: A study in Azerbaijan, Mali, Rwanda, Egypt and Bangladesh. (TISCO Working Paper Series on Civil Law and Conflict Resolution Systems, 009/2010)  Further information
• Gramatikov, M.A., Barendrecht, J.M., Laxminarayan, M.S., Verdonschot, J.H., Klaming, L., & Zeeland, C.M.C. van (2010). A handbook for measuring the costs and quality of access to justice. Apeldoorn | Antwerpen | Portland: MAKLU. Further information
• Verdonschot, J.H. (2009). Delivering objective criteria: Sources of law and the relative value of neutral information for dispute resolution. (TISCO Working Paper Series, 001/2009)  Further information
• Barendrecht, J.M., Kamminga, Y.P., & Verdonschot, J.H. (2008). Priorities for the justice system: Responding to the most urgent legal problems of individuals. (TILEC Discussion Paper No. 2008/011 | TISCO Working Paper No. 001/2008)  Further information
• Barendrecht, J.M., & Verdonschot, J.H. (2008). Objective criteria: Facilitating dispute resolution by information about going rates of justice. (TISCO Working Paper Series, 005/2008)  Further information

Website Microjustice Uganda is live!

I am having a blast here managing the Microjustice4All Uganda organization and we now have basic site up: 

http://www.microjusticeuganda.org/web/index.php 

The Big Picture: Law and Development, Legal Empowerment and the Microjustice Movement

I was recently asked by the wonderful folks at Microjustice4All to write a short introductory article about how microjustice fits into the bigger Law and Development context. I revisited some content of this blog and realized that, while I have been blogging about Law and Development, Legal Empowerment and Microjustice for a while now, I don't yet have a post on the big picture context. So I'm reproducing my article as follows:

The Big Picture: Law and Development, Legal Empowerment and the Microjustice Movement

International Development is a relatively new field of practice, and even newer still is the Law and Development field, which began in the 1950s. For many years, Law and Development projects have been highly criticized as being ineffective, and even today, there continues to be many debates (both between academics and practitioners) about whether law has a role in bringing about international development, and if so, what that role is. The international community is still continuing to find new and better ways to old problems. Might microjustice be an answer?

While many smaller grassroots NGOs have always focused on concrete ways which law can be used to benefit poor people in their own countries, donor countries and large development agencies like the World Bank has concentrated on big, top-down law reform projects such as law-making, court reform and legal training. However, in the 1990s, these expensive programs appear to have made little to no impact on poor people at all. Along with a bigger movement to focus on the poor (spearheaded by the UN though the Millennium Development Goals), the Law and Development industry started to focus on the people who matter the most- not the judges, lawyers or formal legal departments, but marginalized, unempowered poor people.

Initial discussions among passionate people resulted in the formation of the United Nations ‘Commission on the Legal Empower of the Poor’ in 2005 to examine this issue. After three years of research and the publication of their report in 2008, ‘Legal Empowerment of the Poor’ soon became a new way to think about Law and Development. While there are still debates about the details of the UN report, most practitioners are relieved that, finally, the concept of bottom-up legal work focusing on the poor has been recognized in the international arena. In particular, grassroots organizations that have done legal empowerment work for as long as the big agencies have on top-down reform are the first to celebrate. Still, their work is far from over, because billions of people are still without basic rights, access to justice, and legal empowerment.

It is within this context that an individual started to explore innovative ways to bring justice and legal empowerment to poor people. Instead of the traditional donor-based approaches, Patricia van Nispen wanted to find a way to bring relevant legal services to the poor in a way that is truly sustainable and scalable. Patricia, who was nominated by renowned Utne magazine as one of 50 Visionaries who will change the world, pushed the envelope with a visionary concept called Microjustice, premised on the dignified belief that poor people are willing and able to pay for services that they need and want. With the creation of Microjustice for All, then MJ Bolivia, MJ Peru, MJ Argentina and now MJ Uganda, we are all together riding the exciting beginning of a big, unprecedented movement in the Law and Development field.

Visiting the Hague- Tilburg University and TISCO

Being in the Hague, I got a chance to visit Tilburg University Law School (which I have blogged previously many times such as here) and TISCO, along with the many institutions in the Hague and Holland in general, are great proponents of justice. In fact the concept of microjustice originated from a partnership between Tilburg University and and the ILA (see previous post on microjustice here). I'm just amazed at how advanced they are relatively to the US, on the issues of justice and law and development. Perhaps it is their location at The Hague, City of Justice and Peace. ;)

About TISCO

TISCO
TISCO's focus is on justice needs in civil law. Key to our research are the individuals and corporations who use, are involved with, or are influenced by the law and the civil justice system. Taking a bottom-up approach, TISCO members develop, integrate, and apply insights from negotiation theory, conflict research, dispute system design, (comparative) legal research, network theory, behavioural law, and law and economics in their research in order to connect and extend the body of knowledge on building, maintaining and (constructively) ending horizontal relationships in which people and businesses are involved.

Core Competences
TISCO's core competences are in the fields of access to justice, ADR, and conflict system design; complex relational networks and (inter)dependency (e.g. contractual relationships, family law, bankruptcy, and tort); and behavioural private law. Some TISCO members are specialised in facilitating large and complex multiparty processes (consensus building processes and negotiated rulemaking).

Approach
Our approach is interdisciplinary and increasingly empirical-based. There is a strong focus on innovation, product development, and collaboration. TISCO is the only academic workplace in the world developing user-focused theories on, and applications for collaborative, interest-based, low-cost services and dispute system design. Salient examples of such projects are the Measuring Access to Justice Project (www.measuringaccesstojustice.com), the Microjustice Initiative (www.microjustice.org) and Rechtwijzer ("Signpost to Justice", www.rechtwijzer.nl).

Some of our research takes a more dogmatic route by researching new social phenomena, such as the increasing complexity of relationships and networks. We aim to provide the basics of a relational network theory of civil law, for instance by exploring the means to prevent coordinating problems in large building and construction projects and by developing new contract and governance models.

We do not do our work in isolation. TISCO members work closely together with legal scholars and researchers from other scientific disciplines within and outside Tilburg University, and with stakeholders from societal organisations, NGO's, and governments. We actively participate in national and international networks, and build new collaborative partnerships, such as the Measuring Access to Justice Network.

History
TISCO has its origins in the Department of Private Law of Tilburg University and in the Center for Liability Law.

TISCO organization chart.

Professors:

- Prof. J.M. (Maurits) Barendrecht	(publications)
- Prof. M.A.M.C. (Matton) van den Berg	(publications)
- Prof. W.A. (Willem) Hoyng	(publications)
- Prof.dr. A.C. (Bert) van Schaick	(publications)
- Prof. T.F.E. (Eric) Tjong Tjin Tai LL.M.	(publications)
- Prof. I.N. (Ianika) Tzankova	(publications)
- Prof.dr. A.L.P.G. (Alain) Verbeke	(publications)
- Prof. P. (Paul) Vlaardingerbroek	(publications)
- Prof. J.B.M. (Jan) Vranken	(publications)
- Prof. R.D. (Reinout) Vriesendorp	(publications)
- Prof. R.M. (Reinout) Wibier	(publications)

Researchers:

- M.W.F. (Thijs) Bosters LL.M.	(publications)
- R. (Rachid) Chetouani LL.M.
- J. (Jael) Diamant LL.M.
- Dr. G. (Gijs) van Dijck LL.M.	(publications)
- R.J. (Robert) Dijkstra LL.M. M.Sc.	(publications)
- C.J.M. (Karlijn) van Doorn LL.M.	(publications)
- Dr. M. (Martin) Gramatikov LL.M.	(publications)
- K. (Kathelijne) van Gulick LL.M.	(publications)
- Dr. S. (Stéphanie) van Gulijk LL.M.	(publications)
- Dr. M.W. (Machteld) de Hoon LL.M.	(publications)
- R. (Romy) de Jong LL.M.
- Dr. L. (Laura) Klaming M.Sc.	(publications)
- C.C.H.A. (Christel) van der Kop LL.M.	(publications)
- N. (Noortje) Lavrijssen LL.M.	(publications)
- J. (Jessey) Liauw-A-Joe LL.B.
- J. (Janneke) van der Linden LL.M. M.Sc.	(publications)
- Dr. V. (Vanessa) Mak LLM	(publications)
- J. (Jobien) Monster LL.M.
- J.M.H.P. (Anne-Marie) van Neer- van den Broek LL.M.	(publications)
- R.B. (Robert) Porter M.Sc.	(publications)
- O. (Omar) Salah LL.M.	(publications)
- P. (Paul) Sluijter LL.M.	(publications)
- C.H.M.A. (Cecile) Smid - de Munnik LL.M.	(publications)
- V.M. (Veronica) Smits LL.M.	(publications)
- W.J. (Wouter) van 't Spijker	(publications)
- N.E. (Nadine) Tijssens LL.M.
- F.A. (Floortje) van Tilburg LL.M.	(publications)
- J. (Jelle) van Veenen	(publications)
- J.H. (Jin Ho) Verdonschot LL.M.	(publications)
- J.A.A.M. (Jiri) Verschure LL.M.	(publications)
- C.M.C. (Corry) van Zeeland LL.M.	(publications)
- C.B.M.C. (Charlotte) Zegveld LL.M.	(publications)

Research Fellows:

- Dr. Paolo Balboni LL.M.	(publications)
- Dr. Nicole van den Heuvel LL.M.
- Margot Kokke LL.M.

Research Assistants:

- J.J.A. (Jurgen) Braspenning