Yale Law School Holds Conference on Legal Reform in the Former Soviet Union

The future of Western efforts on behalf of legal reform in the former Soviet Union will be the topic of a two-day conference April 23-24 at Yale Law School, 127 Wall Street.

The conference, titled “Promoting Legal Reform in the Former Soviet Union,” will bring together representatives from groups concerned with promoting change in the former Soviet states, including academics and practitioners, people from institutions within the former Soviet Union, and representatives from funding organizations.

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Western organizations and individuals have spent much time and money on legal reform, but now that many of the new countries have set up their institutions and drafted their laws, the role of Western organizations seems less clear. Is there a continuing role for Western aid in promoting the development of accountable, effective and efficient institutions? What have the strategies been so far, and have they been successful? What have been the biggest obstacles? What should be the goals? How does one measure accomplishment? These are some of the questions the conference will address as it looks at the phenomenon of Western assistance for post-Soviet legal reform.

The heart of the conference will consist of five panels: commercial law, moderated by Professor Henry Hansmann, Yale Law School; constitutional law, Professor Paul Gewirtz, Yale; the judiciary, Professor Robert Gordon, Yale; administrative and public law, Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale; and legal education, Professor Stephen Holmes, Princeton University and New York University School of Law.

The conference is organized by the Russia and Eastern Europe Law Forum, a student organization at Yale Law School, and receives support from the Law School and the Yale Center for Studies in Law, Economics, and Public Policy. Conference co-sponsors include Debevoise & Plimpton, Price Waterhouse Coopers CIS Law Firm, the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights, Yale Law Women, and the Yale Center for International and Area Studies.

Opening and closing sessions are open to the public. Those interested in attending the panel sessions will be admitted on a space-available basis and should email Karen Johnson at karen.k.johnson@yale.edu or vladpchol@aol.com.

A conference schedule follows.

PROMOTING LEGAL REFORM IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

Friday, April 23
3:30 p.m.
Public Forum, Room 120
Introduction: Professor Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale Law School

Keynote Address: Joseph Onek, Senior Coordinator for the Rule of Law, Department of State

6 p.m.
Public Reception, Faculty Lounge

Saturday, April 24
9 - 10:30 a.m.
Panel on Constitutional Law

11 - 12:30 p.m.
Panel on Administrative and Public Law
Panel on the Judiciary

12:30 p.m.
Lunch Break

2 - 3:30 p.m.
Panel on Commercial Law
Panel on Legal Education

3:30 - 4 p.m.
Break

4 - 6 p.m.
Closing Session, Room 120

Address: Dean Anthony T. Kronman, Yale Law School

Reports by Panel Moderators

Summation: Professor Stephen Holmes, Princeton University and NYU School of Law