Photo Credit: USAID JuST project   USAID JuST project Director, Mr. John Carver,(right) delivered the first copies of the compendium of laws and legal acts to the chairman of the National Chamber of Advocates in Albania, Mr. Maksim Haxhia (left).

USAID Supports the Legal Profession in Albania

TIRANA , MARCH 7, 2011     Last week, USAID, in partnership with Albania’s National Chamber of Advocates (NCA), published the first comprehensive collection of the fundamental legal acts that regulate the functioning of the legal profession in Albania.

“This compendium is a valuable reference guide for every defense attorney”, said NCA chairman, Maksim Haxhia, expressing his appreciation for USAID assistance in its publication, while he received the first copies from USAID.  The publication contains the Law on the Profession of Advocates (amended), the Statute of the National Chamber of Advocates (NCA), and the Code of Ethics for Advocates, thus making a contribution towards greater awareness about these key acts among the members, as well as a better understanding of the legal profession by the Albanian public.

Besides NCA, the copies of the compendium are now available for every practicing Albanian defense lawyer in all the 12 regional chambers of advocates, as well as the 22 districts courts of Albania.  An electronic copy can be downloaded from the USAID Albania website at: http://albania.usaid.gov/JuST.

The need for such a publication was also one of the recommendations that came out of the three roundtable discussions on how the legal profession functions in Albania, organized by the USAID Albanian Justice Sector Strengthening Project (JuST), in cooperation with NCA and the regional chambers of advocates in Vlorë, Durrës and Lezhë.  They took place between December 2010 and January 2011, and brought together over 100 attorneys from these chambers and neighboring ones.

In the framework of the JuST project, USAID is undertaking several key initiatives to support the legal profession in Albania.  They include developing and implementing a Continuous Legal Education program, publishing an Albanian Bar Journal, convening of an Annual Albanian Lawyers Conference, as well as building mechanisms in support of preparing future lawyers, such as establishing the clinical education program at the University of Tirana Law Faculty, and coordinating an internship program for law students at state and private institutions.

The five-year USAID Albanian Justice Sector Strengthening Project (JuST), begun in October 2010, aims at increasing court transparency, fairness and efficiency; bolstering watchdog and anticorruption roles of civil society organizations and media; and strengthening the legal profession and legal education in Albania.