International Judicial Training Program (IJTP) at the University of Georgia

From left: Brazilian participants; Justice Alan Brobbey of the Ghanaian Judicial Service; Ghanian participants

A strong and independent judiciary is the foundation of a democratic country's stability. Reform that improves the quality and efficiency of judicial administration fosters an environment more conducive to internal and external investment, democratic process, and social and economic stability. Programs that work to strengthen the judiciary are unique in their reach, with impacts that are subsequently dispersed throughout society.

The Dean Rusk Center's International Judicial Training Program (IJTP), with the assistance of the Institute of Continuing Judicial Education, facilitates such reform by offering capacity-building judicial administration programs tailored to the individual needs of each participating country. Designed to introduce foreign judges and court personnel to the U.S. judicial system, the IJTP hosts seminars (up to two weeks) at the UGA School of Law and at sites throughout the state and includes sessions with the Georgia Supreme Court, Georgia Court of Appeals, and other specialized courts. Examples of topics covered in prior training programs include court administration, judicial budgeting, caseload management, alternative dispute resolution, court technology, and judicial ethics and professionalism. Through exposure to the U.S. system, the International Judicial Training Program assists in the development of national judiciaries by increasing their independence, competence, and efficiency. For additional information, please contact Dean Rusk Center Associate Director María Eugenia Giménez.

IJTP Ghanaian Partnership

Representatives from the Judicial Service of Ghana with Co-Director María E. Giménez

The program has expanded into Ghana as part of concrete plans to further extend the program's reach in other countries and regions. Originally, two members of the Judicial Service of Ghana participated in a judicial training program for Brazilian judges and court administrators to become familiar with the program and to identify critical areas for reform. During this time, Rusk Center staff collaborated with Ghana Judicial Service officials to identify concrete strategies for reform within the guidelines of the Ten-Year Strategic Plan for the Judicial Service—a reform structure developed by the United Nations Development Programme's National Institutional Renewal Programme (NIRP). Under the sponsorship of this UNDP and the World Bank, members of the Judicial Service of Ghana, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Justice, as well as the informational technology consultant to the Judicial Service, attended a program on court automation at UGA. Specific reforms targeted during these training programs promise a revamping of the administration of justice in Ghana. Implementation of a Fast Track Court reduced the average time for adjudication of cases, originally five-to-seven years, to six months. This model court has drawn the attention of international donors who are willing to fund a number of additional Fast Tract Courts in Ghana.

IJTP Brazilian Partnership

Since 1997, when the Supreme Court of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, requested that its judges and court personnel be trained by the University of Georgia on issues concerning continuing education, more than forty judges and administrators, members of the Pernambuco judiciary, have trained at UGA through the International Judicial Training Program. The idea was to train a cadre of judges and court personnel who would constitute the backbone of Pernambuco's Institute of Continuing Judicial Education. One of the many outcomes of this IJTP was the development of a Code of Judicial Conduct by the Pernambuco Supreme Court.