Liberia Program
The Center's Liberia projects fall into three general categories: first, material aid to the University of Liberia; second, contributions to the teaching mission of the University of Liberia School of Law; and third, contributions to legal research and law reform efforts. The goal of all of these projects is to rebuild the legal profession and the constitutional culture that will help to sustain democracy and the rule of law in the future.
In the aftermath of the civil war, the University of Liberia finds itself without the basic materials necessary to its educational mission. In order to help with this crisis, the Center and the IU School of Law will collect law books to be sent to the library of the University of Liberia School of Law. Dean Robel will also investigate the possibility of providing computers and/or access to software and internet resources for the University of Liberia School of Law through Indiana University.
The University of Liberia School of Law also needs to build up a curriculum and a core staff of well-trained legal educators. Two projects are devoted to this effort. First, the IU School of Law will develop a faculty exchange program to facilitate visits by IU Law faculty to the University of Liberia to teach courses. The University of Liberia will provide funds to cover lodging/travel expenses within Liberia and the Center will seek funding to cover the other expenses of visiting faculty. In addition, the Center will explore the possibility of using distance learning and internet conferencing technology to allow faculty members here in Bloomington to teach classes to students in Liberia.
Second, the IU School of Law will create a two year program to train law graduates who will return to Liberia to work as legal educators. The first year, the student will enroll in the LL.M. program at the Law School, with a specialized curriculum developed by the Center. The curriculum will include training in legal education: designing a course, teaching techniques, student evaluation, and so on. The second year, the student will spend as a Fellow of the Center doing research on issues relevant to democratization and law reform efforts in Liberia. The Law School will waive the LL.M. tuition fee for one student per year and the Center will seek other resources to cover travel and living expenses for the student.
The last set of projects is focused on constitutional reform and legal research more generally. First, the Center has received a substantial grant from the United States Institute for Peace to write the first commentary on the Liberian constitution. The Commentary will be written by Phillip Banks and Amos Sawyer (who were among the drafters of this Constitution), David Jallah (who is the Dean of the University of Liberia School of Law), and David Williams (the Director of the Center). We anticipate that the Minister of Justice of Liberia may also participate. The goal of the Commentary will be to provide greater understanding of the present Constitution and guidance for future constitutional reform. The Commentary will be produced in three versions: first, a longer version designed for lawyers, judges, and legislators; second, a somewhat shorter and more accessible version designed for community leaders and activists; and third, a very short version designed to be broadly distributed to the general public. In addition, the writers of the Commentary plan to use their research to also produce a casebook on Liberian Constitutional Law suitable for use in the law school classroom. At present, no such textbook exists and Liberian law students study their own Constitution by reading casebooks on American constitutional law.
The second law reform project is focused on the harmonization of civil law and customary law in Liberia. Phillip Banks, David Jallah, Amos Sawyer, and Susan Williams will be involved in this project. Some specific legal problems have arisen from the intersection of these two legal systems--for example, in the law of inheritance--and there is also the more general issue of gender equality within customary law. The Center will undertake a comparative research project to provide Liberian lawmakers and legal reformers with information about how these issues are handled in a variety of legal systems. The Center will also consult with members of the legal profession in Liberia on law reform efforts and help to assess legislative proposals intended to respond to these issues. The Center will explore the possibility of developing course materials for the University of Liberia School of Law on the subject of customary law. We anticipate that the customary law project will lead to a more general consideration of gender equality issues under Liberian law and we hope, in collaboration with leaders in Liberia, to develop further projects concerning these issues in the future.