Birth of an Ideal  

By Diana Bentley   

ILAC was born out of a recognition that the re-establishment of the rule of law in war-torn countries by legal assistance organizations needed better management to be more effective. Experience in countries in Central and Eastern Europe emerging from totalitarian rule in the last two decades demonstrated clearly how legal reform was central to promoting social growth and development. In that time too many war-torn countries had suffered a significant breakdown of the rule of law. But despite a plethora of international aid for such countries, there was still little support for rehabilitating their judicial systems and, when available, its delivery was haphazard.

In the late 1990s several lawyers, foremost among them Mark S. Ellis, today Executive Director of the International Bar Association (IBA), and Bill Meyer of the American Bar Association, began to discuss the possibility of better marshalling legal development assistance to countries in need. ‘The idea lay in experiences we’d had in post- conflict situations in Bosnia, Kosovo and Rwanda,’ explains Ellis. ‘The focus on rebuilding legal systems was often an afterthought and we felt strongly that the international and domestic legal communities should concentrate on the legal system at the very start of the reconstruction process.’ Duplication was also a problem. ‘When an organization eventually focused on legal restructuring its report would be left to languish. Then a new group would become involved, funded by a new government or foundation, who would cover the same ground.’  

The efforts of legal aid entities would be more effective if they were coordinated by one organization, he believed. ‘We thought that a form of ‘umbrella’ organization could help put legal restructuring at the forefront of structuring plans and, at least in the initial stage, secure collaboration on providing blueprints for reform and the way help was provided.’ The focus on the organization, he felt, should be on countries in post- conflict situations. Usually suffering from the breakdown of the rule of law, they commonly lacked an educated, independent judiciary, lawyers who could serve as drafters of legislation and legal administrators and legal education to create new generations of scholars and practitioners. While the need for legal rehabilitation in post communist countries had become well understood, says Ellis: ‘The period following a conflict in a country is so chaotic that there is often no focus on legal restructuring.’     

With his urging, the US based Stanley Foundation sponsored several preliminary workshops and conferences held in the US from 1997 to 2000 in which international jurists explored the idea. The Swedish and Irish governments and the IBA too provided crucial preliminary funding. Among the early supporters of the idea was ILAC Executive Director, Christian Åhlund. ‘I thought that the idea was brilliant but I believed that the body must be completely international in character to be viable’, he recalls. Initially, the champions of the idea were unsure of how legal assistance organizations would react to the proposal. But support was forthcoming and ILAC Chairman Paul Hoddinott pays tribute to the international legal fraternity for their foresight: ‘Organizations providing legal assistance guard their independence and it does the legal profession great credit that they were able to collaborate.’

Enthusiasm for the idea was such that in Saltsjobaden, Sweden in December 2000, in a conference supported by the Swedish government and attended by 40 organizations from around the world, ILAC was born. Almost a year later, in November, 2001 it became an non-governmental organization (NGO) under Swedish law.

ILAC then needed a home. Ideas to base it in London became mired in tax issues but Sweden’s fiscal regime proved favourable for an NGO and the Swedish government was enthusiastic about the organization and offered crucial funding. Sweden’s history of neutrality and its international reputation for humanitarian work also made it an ideal home for ILAC. On the 1st September, 2002 ILAC opened its doors in Stockholm under the stewardship of Christian Åhlund. A former senior partner of a Swedish law firm, Åhlund’s experience included many international assignments in the field of human rights – particularly in Bosnia-Hercegovina where he served as a Director General for Human Rights for the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) – chairing the Human Rights Commission of the Swedish Bar Association and the Human Rights Committee of the Council of the Bars and Law Societies in the European Union. Founding Chairman Paul Hoddinott, had followed a distinguished career in the Royal Navy with a 6 year term as the Executive Director of the IBA and appointments with NATO and the UN and the British Embassy in Washington. With 3 staff in Stockholm, ILAC also now has officers stationed in Brussels, Washington, Zambia and Liberia and 37 members representing more than 3 million lawyers worldwide.   

ILAC’s methodology soon was proven. Assessments of the need for legal reform in a country are conducted by ILAC on request. Typically these come from the UN and Christian Åhlund has worked hard to form partnerships with the organization. ‘To be viable we must have ‘buy-in’ from the government or interim authority or UN peacekeeping operations in a country. We‘ve made a point of getting to know the dedicated people in the UN and we must nurture our contacts there,’ he says. Assessment teams are selected by ILAC’s Council based on the skills and languages required for a project and to be able to consult with politicians, leaders of the judiciary and the wider legal community on appraisal missions. Often countries understand what legal assistance they require but ILAC assessment teams also reach their own conclusions of what aid is needed. ‘A priority for us is to give countries what they want but in every mission we also play an advisory role,’ Christian Åhlund remarks. ‘Many of these countries lack the experience to realize fully what they need.’ 

ILAC members are chosen to implement projects recommended by assessment missions based on their experience. ‘It’s a process that does not interfere with or diminish member organizations,’ Mark Ellis stresses. ‘Once selected, they deliver the aid. However, by collaborating at the beginning, members all understand the issues and this was a major step forward in organizing legal assistance.’ Members have consistently focused on what they can do best when offering to undertake projects, Ellis confirms: ‘I recall no conflict among members over competition for projects. This is a real achievement of ILAC and important for its credibility.’  

Funding however, became a crucial issue that ILAC had to address early in its operations. ‘When ILAC began, no one imagined that it would be a funder of programmes but only an initial assessment tool, providing through its members, long term support,’ relates Mark Ellis. But the organization’s officers soon discovered that funding should be secured before aid was offered. ‘In our first project in East Timor we did a good job identifying projects needed but when we turned to the international donors, the searchlight had turned to Afghanistan,’ Christian Åhlund recalls. ‘We had raised expectations in East Timor and we couldn’t fulfill our offers for help. It was a painful lesson.’ It was uncertain too if members would accept ILAC assuming a role they had normally undertaken themselves. But again, members appreciated what was needed and the fund raising process is now a necessary aspect of ILAC’s work, says Christian Åhlund. ‘Legal organizations often don’t have the experience or contacts in the field. Fund raising is an art in itself,’ he says. After East Timor, other projects soon followed – in Afghanistan, Liberia, Haiti, Palestine and Iraq – and ILAC has now secured its reputation internationally.       

Chairman Paul Hoddinott remains clear about the continuing purpose of ILAC. ‘We are not legal missionaries,’ he stresses. ‘We are happy to provide countries with the means by which they can put their own legal house in order. ILAC’s strength lies in our member organizations – they remain the conduit through which requests for aid are satisfied.’ But all of ILAC’s officers are proud of its achievements. ‘It has succeeded far beyond our expectations,’ says Mark Ellis. Its success, he says, demonstrates what can be done when groups with different agendas see the benefit of collaborating to more effectively serve those in need. Some of the organization’s success too can be attributed to a sea change in attitudes in the legal profession to pro bono work, Christian Åhlund believes: ‘We started at the right time. For many years lawyers have been accused of being concerned solely with their own interests. But in the last few years we have seen increasingly how lawyers, young and old, corporate and non-corporate, are ready to devote their services to helping others.’  

More missions are on the horizon for the ILAC. It has recently been asked by Sierra Leone, which has been selected for assistance by the new UN Peacebuilding Commission, to consider how it can work in that country. Rwanda too needs help. The organization is also in the preliminary stages of considering work in Southern Sudan. ‘Africa is clearly a priority for us,’ says Christian Åhlund. More organizations too may join its ranks. ‘It is a unique resource which succeeds on the considerable ability and enthusiasm of its members,’ says Christian Åhlund.