History

ILAC was formed in 2002 as an umbrella organization for associations of legal and human rights experts world wide with experience in rebuilding justice systems after war and armed conflicts.

Since the end of the cold war there has been a growing appreciation among legal analysts and practitioners of the importance of rehabilitating defunct legal systems. While a growing number of international organizations and individual donor governments have been expanding their scope of activities to assist nations in rehabilitating their police forces, there has been considerably less attention paid to rehabilitation of judicial systems.
When such assistance has been given, its efficiency has often been hampered by nationalistic insensitivity among donors, duplicated efforts and insufficient absorption capacity at the receiving end.

In order to seek a formula for improving the methods for providing legal development assistance, a number of jurists with experience from this field gathered for a series of conferences during 1997 - 2000. These conferences led to the initiative of forming the International Legal Assistance Consortium - ILAC. The formal launching of ILAC came at a conference in Saltsjöbaden, Sweden, in December 2000. This conference brought together over 80 participants from more than forty organizations world-wide. In November 2001, ILAC registered as a non-profit association under Swedish law and on 1 September 2002 ILAC opened its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden.

The formation of ILAC would not have happened without the constant and enthusiastic support from a number of institutions and individuals. The Stanley Foundation sponsored and organized three conferences during 1997-2000. The Saltsjöbaden Conference was made possible because of a generous grant from Swedish Sida. The process of transforming ILAC from a creative idea into an operational NGO would not have happened without crucial initial funding from the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. ILAC is also deeply grateful to the Irish Government and the International Bar Association for their generous core support.

Among the numerous talented and dedicated individuals, to whom ILAC owes its existence, there is one person in particular who deserves to be mentioned: Mark S. Ellis, the Executive Director of the International Bar Association. ILAC's unique concept, and the fact that this concept has today been turned into a vibrant, truly international operation, is largely the result of his visionary thinking, practical experience, and tireless international networking.