Program Overview
- Support for Democratic Institutions
- Support for Free Market Economies
- Support for the Protection of Human Rights
Support for Democratic Institutions
Working with countries in transition to support the continuing development of democratic institutions, the CEELI Institute has worked with some of the best and brightest international professionals.
Through programs ranging from anti-corruption to court administration training, the Institute has demonstrated a commitment to extending concepts of transparency and accountability throughout the legal community.
Beyond this, the CEELI Institute strives to work within the context of these countries, bridging the needs of the professionals with the strengths of international experts to expand knowledge about democratic institutions and spark new ideas and action plans for development of these institutions in transitional democracies.
Course Offerings:
Judging in a Democratic Society
This course stresses the courts’ leadership role in society, the importance of judicial independence, and political issues of leadership.
Consistent with these ideas, the course will provide training in a variety of areas, including the role of a judge in a democratic, market-oriented society, the tools required to make courts fair and efficient, and the substantive knowledge needed to handle current problems and issues.
Covering judicial skills and concepts along with administrative issues such as calendaring and case flow management, this course ties both theoretical and practical applications of democracy within a judicial context.
Building Judicial Integrity
This course serves as a training program for judges, lawyers, and government officials, focused on developing comprehensive plans for combating judicial corruption.
Opening with an examination of the role of the court in a democratic society and the importance of public trust in the courts, particular emphasis is given to the accountability of courts and judges to the public they serve. Participants will discuss the limitations of such practice.
The course also seeks to examine the causes, forms, and impact of judicial corruption. Through discussion and development of action plans, participants are encouraged to consider the role the judiciary can play in combating corruption and to develop concrete plans for doing so.
Anti-Corruption in Public Procurement
Focusing on combating corruption in the public contracting system, this regional course brings together a wide variety of procurement officials, including government representatives, judges, and prosecutors to discuss existing models of public procurement, create a best-practice model to effectively target issues within their respective sectors/countries, and address the role corruption plays within the various stages of the procurement process.
Through interactive teaching methods, case studies, and intensive group work, participants discuss issues such as:
- International trends
- Existing international and regional legal frameworks
- Procurement methods
- Actors and stakeholders within the procurement system
- The purchase of commodities
- Contracts used in public procurement, and
- Opportunities and challenges associated with new technologies, such as e-procurement
Support for Free Market Economies
Free market economies play an important role in determining a just democracy for the transitional countries that often approach the CEELI Institute for training and programmatic support.
Issues pertaining to commercial law, intellectual property, and regional business concerns are weaved into the Institute’s programs in order to enhance the ability of the court system to support the economic development of countries in transition.
If individuals and businesses do not have access to a justice system that will enforce their rights, economic development suffers.
Therefore, the CEELI Institute will continue to create programs that increase the understanding of the free market economies and support a legal education to strengthen these economies in transitioning or newly transitioned democracies.
Course Offerings:
Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement
Introducing the concept of intellectual property and defining the rights of property holders, this course is aimed at judges and seeks to analyze the concepts of trademarks, patents, copyrights, author’s rights, and industrial design through practical case study.
By discussing the protection and enforcement of these laws through hands-on exploration of the topic, the participants are better able to enforce intellectual property rights when faced with such cases and can ensure that their decisions are in compliance with international law.
Commercial Law of the European Union
This course is designed to give judges an overview of the framework regulating economic activity in the European Union and the relationship between that framework and domestic law. It aims to give judges the background necessary to effectively enforce EC law.
Beginning with an examination of terms and the use of a common legal language, participants will examine current case law and explore the role of the judiciary in the market system.
Support for the Protection of Human Rights
Human rights are crucial to the development of a just legal system and a democratic government.
The CEELI Institute offers a range of programs that seek to protect human rights, whether through promoting public advocacy, empowering women and minorities involved in criminal justice, or working with countries to implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Course Offerings:
Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement
Introducing the concept of intellectual property and defining the rights of property holders, this course is aimed at judges and seeks to analyze the concepts of trademarks, patents, copyrights, author’s rights, and industrial design through practical case study.
By discussing the protection and enforcement of these laws through hands-on exploration of the topic, the participants are better able to enforce intellectual property rights when faced with such cases and can ensure that their decisions are in compliance with international law.
Commercial Law of the European Union
This course is designed to give judges an overview of the framework regulating economic activity in the European Union and the relationship between that framework and domestic law It aims to give judges the background necessary to effectively enforce EC law.
Beginning with an examination of terms and the use of a common legal language, participants will examine current case law and explore the role of the judiciary in the market system.