This two-day learning event will introduce participants to the main legal systems employed globally. An overview of the features of common law and civil law will be provided, in addition to salient aspects of Islamic law. Informal justice systems – although highly variable, and with some countries using multiple informal mechanisms – have certain common characteristics that are also important to understand.
This event will provide practitioners with an overview of these common characteristics, and how rule of law programming can work with informal justice systems to meet outcomes that complement work done with formal or state systems. Participants will be challenged to broaden the way in which they think about how legal systems operate in general and will leave the training with a more sophisticated understanding of the varied legal systems employed globally, what resources are available to get information about a country’s legal system, and how different legal systems provide due process and achieve justice outcomes using comparable but not identical means.
This event is open to all USG personnel, regardless of hiring mechanism or location. The content will be useful for those engaged in any aspect of rule of law, justice, or anticorruption programming (i.e., working with courts, police, corrections, advisory support, civil society, etc.).