"Mainstreaming" the Rule of Law

In 2007, the WJP began holding outreach meetings with leaders from a range of fields to "mainstream" rule of law advancement - to make it as fundamental to the thinking and work of doctors, educators, journalists and other professionals as it is to lawyers. These meetings created the basis for the World Justice Project's collaborative efforts to advance the rule of law.

International multidisciplinary outreach meetings, held on five continents, identified critical areas where collaborative cross-disciplinary efforts will advance the rule of law. These meetings brought together leaders from 71 countries, representing the arts, business, education, engineering, environment, faith, human rights, labor, media, military, public health and public safety/law enforcement.

The WJP invited participants from all of these meetings to the World Justice Forum. The organizations represented by these individuals included such diverse organizations as: Action Aid, African Council of Religious Leaders, Asian Development Bank, Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship, Coalition for Reconciliation, Transparency, & Citizenship, Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, Hague Institute of International Law, Indonesian Centre for Environmental Law, International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, UN Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, World Intellectual Property Organization, and Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers.

The WJP is also supporting domestic multidisciplinary outreach meetings in the United States and continues this focus post-World Justice Forum. In individual states across the nation, state and local bar associations, working with ABA leadership, law schools and other local leaders, are sponsoring state-level multidisciplinary outreach meetings to form multidisciplinary partnerships to strengthen the rule of law at the state and community levels.

• Twenty-one state-level meetings have been held to date, in Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington State.

• Fifteen other states have set dates for meetings, and additional plans are in progress.

• Educational materials for a "Dialogue on the Rule of Law" have been prepared for use in state mainstreaming meetings and in schools across the United States.

• Participants at these meetings have included business people, community service leaders, educators, healthcare professionals, judges, lawyers, politicians, and religious figures.

• Among the concerns voiced at the meetings: business's need for laws that are clearly stated, reliable, predictable and accessible; the relationship between rule of law and the advancement of civil rights; and the potential role for educators in making the process of law more understandable to all individuals.