New ABA book captures the 30-year development of historic, ongoing rule of law initiative
The history of what has been called a “rule of law Marshall Plan” is captured in a new book filled with both historical detail and dozens of personal accounts. The 67-chapter story, “Building the Rule of Law: Firsthand Accounts from a Thirty-Year Global Campaign,” begins with the fall of the Berlin Wall and documents the beginnings, challenges and successes of more than 5,000 volunteers and the growth of this initiative into a global campaign that has, to date, reached more than 100 countries.
Participants in the American Bar Association rule of law efforts have included U.S. Supreme Court justices, dedicated staff and hundreds of volunteers who lived for a year or more without pay in countries seeking to build societies based on the rule of law.
Edited by two longtime ABA leaders, this volume contains the accounts and perspectives of those who conceived and directed the original Central and Eastern European Law Initiative (CEELI) project, dozens of volunteers with remarkable stories to tell, builders of a permanent rule of law institute in Prague (the CEELI Institute) and the lawyers and judges who led these efforts into a global project, now known as the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ROLI). More than 45 accounts come from volunteers who lived and worked in countries seeking to restructure their governments and legal systems.
These are initiatives that have changed the lives of countless people around the world — and the lives of many who served as volunteers. Former ABA President James R. Silkenat and former ABA International Law Section Chair Gerold W. Libby served as the book’s editors. They not only pulled together this history, complete with country-specific accounts and some 100 photographs, but also analyses that discuss the meaning of the term “the rule of law,” describe lessons learned from 30 years of work on the ground, and consider what may lie ahead.
“Building the Rule of Law: Firsthand Accounts from a Thirty-Year Global Campaign” is available in hardback and as an eBook for $39.95. To order, visit www. shopaba.org.
New ABA guide provides the essentials of disaster law practice
A new book from the American Bar Association, “Meeting the Legal Needs of Disaster Survivors: Third Responders,” brings together some of the United States’ most knowledgeable experts on disaster law to provide a critical resource for pro bono attorneys and other stakeholders to understand the essentials of disaster law practice.
Part One discusses Disaster Legal Services, the partnership between the ABA Young Lawyers Division and FEMA that is a leading facilitator of pro bono legal disaster response in the U.S., and the Disaster Recovery Clinic at Hofstra University, a model for how legal education can contribute to disaster response.
This section also covers strategies for managing compassion fatigue and the psychological impact of disaster response work.
Part Two provides background and guidance on key issues that pro bono disaster response attorneys encounter:
• Equitable access for non-English speakers and other marginalized groups
• FEMA Individual Assistance Program
• FEMA Individuals and Households Program
• Common complications in documenting homeownership
• Flood insurance claims
• Tenant rights and post-disaster challenges for renters
Author David Hoa K. Nguyen is an assistant professor of Urban Education Leadership and Policy Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Previously, he was an assistant professor of Educational Leadership at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and assistant professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Nguyen has a B.S. in secondary education from Indiana University Bloomington, a law degree from the Indiana University McKinney School of Law, and an MBA from the IU Kelley School of Business at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
“Meeting the Legal Needs of Disaster Survivors: Third Responders” is available as a paperback and eBook for $69.95. To order, visit www.shopaba.org.
ABA book connects law and poetry using language from preamble to the Constitution
The American Bar Association Business Law Section has published “Law and Poetry: Promises from the Preamble,” a collection of 56 poems — one for each state, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. This anthology uses the language from the preamble to the U.S. Constitution as a structure and framework.
Editor Kristen David Adams notes the connection between law and poetry, where she reveals that poetry about the law may be the single most effective way to connect with the human experience of the law — what it feels like to be the judge, juror, attorney, witness, or even the accused.
The anthology includes works by famous poets as well as others who are not as familiar. From Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Carl Sandburg to Rudyard Kipling, Jack Mapanje and Emily Dickenson, this collection of poetry attempts to share the meaning of the law.
The anthology was inspired by Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address in 1861 where he states, “Continue to exercise all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever.”
Adams conveys that one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was “to form a more perfect Union.”
With this goal in mind, the collection is separated into sections using language and themes from the preamble.
Each section seeks to challenge the reader to consider how the promises and ideals of the preamble might be fulfilled by “the better angels of our nature” and to illuminate opportunities for changes that might assist in reaching those ideals.
Adams is the William Reece Smith Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at Stetson University College of Law. She has authored seven books and is an active member of the ABA Business Law Section.
“Law and Poetry: Promises from the Preamble” is available in paperback for $34.95. To order a copy, call 800-285-2221 or go online to www.shopaba.org.
