…as regional reform project hits Guyana By Sunita SamarooAlmost a month after the Guyana Bar Association spoke of the need for lawyers to continue their education, representatives of the Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (Impact Justice) Project are seeking to engage local lawyers on this very issue.Through the five-year, justice sector reform project funded by the Government of Canada, a lecture targeting lawyers in conjunction with the local bar association will be held today at the Pegasus Hotel.Regional Project Director, Professor Velma Newton and Attorney General Basil Williams pose with an IMPACT Justice Manual for Administrators.The IMPACT Justice project is funded to the tune of CAD$19.2M and is being implemented from within the Caribbean Law Institute Centre, Faculty of Law, The University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus in Barbados.Regional Project Director of IMPACT Justice, Professor Velma Newton, who spoke to Kaieteur News yesterday,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, noted that professional development is an important continuous improvement process.“We have a component for working with the legal profession to improve their accounting standards, disciplinary procedures, and also to provide continuing legal education for lawyers in the same way doctors and dentists have to do.”Currently, Jamaica and Grenada are the only CARICOM Member States to have legislation which deals specifically with continuing legal education. Jamaica has been highlighted as the foremost with respect to Continuing Legal Education (CLE) in the region, and its model is that which was agreed upon.When lawyers convene tomorrow,Jerseys From China, it is the Jamaican model which will come under focus.The IMPACT Justice project will be a far-reaching one, the project’s Regional Head explained. Assistance in drafting legislation to further regional integration and economic growth; more legislative protection of vulnerable groups against discrimination; training of mediators to assist parties in solving disputes to avoid long and expensive court proceedings and a programme for sensitizing ordinary people about their rights under the law, are among the benefits promised under the IMPACT Justice project.“What we are hoping to do is improve access to justice for as many persons in the Caribbean as possible. We are hoping to do so through assisting governments in drafting legislation that will impact the CSME (Caribbean Single Market and Economy), and the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) Economic Union, and also on gender, including women and disadvantaged groups. We are improving access to legal information by funding the creation of databases, such as CARILAW,” said Professor Newton.CariLaw is a website which contains cases from around the region, including those of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).Alternative dispute solution will also be focused upon. Professor Newton divulged that the intention is for persons from various communities across the region to be trained in mediation techniques, so that conflicts can be handled at a community level instead of resorting to the courts.She said too that they will be training mediators attached to courts.“We are doing a survey of the legal education in the Caribbean as well. Right now, some people are saying that the law schools are producing too many graduates and some countries are saying that they are not enough. We are trying to look at the dynamics of legal education: what it costs,Cheap NFL Jerseys, how much governments have to pay, whether the curriculum should be changed and what people think about the quality of the legal education that persons who served them get,” Professor Newton revealed.But the project will be targeting schools as well. The Regional Project Head revealed that teachers, Education Ministry officials and guidance counsellors in schools will be trained on how to use restorative practices.She said restorative practices have worked well in schools throughout the world, and are also used with respect to conflicts – to prevent them from escalating. Training in Restorative Practices has already been done in Barbados and Professor Newton said they will be looking to do same in Guyana.ACCESS TO JUSTICEShe emphasised that one major aspect of the project is Public Legal Education.“We want to speak to people about what their rights are, how you go about trying to enforce those rights. For women, where you go if you are battered: what do you do? How do you respond? That goes for other marginalized communities as well.”She said it is their intention to hold a conference early next year for Amerindians from around the region to discuss their issues.”Under the Public Legal Education component, IMPACT Justice Project will be seeking to reach people at the group and community levels