Professional Development for Young Legal Practitioners in East Asia and the Pacific

Countries in the East Asia and Pacific region (EAP) are increasingly focused on enhancing regional security. Transnational criminal organizations take advantage of porous borders and fragile rule of law to illegally traffic drugs, arms, people, and wildlife. While countries in EAP face a range of challenges in developing robust rule of law, commonalities provide the context for INL's regional rule of law programming. Interagency and international cooperation on cases remains limited. Corruption is pervasive in many countries in the region. Legal systems are overburdened, and professionals may not have the resources to address their caseloads fully. This project will pilot professional development opportunities for legal professionals in the first five years of their career. The project will focus on sustainable legal professional development for prosecutors, judges, and public defense attorneys involved in criminal cases in the proposed pilot country. In the second year of the project, the implementer will conduct an assessment of a proposed second country for expansion.