Promoting Rule of Law Project

Meetings were held with various counterparts, including MLAW, Akhaya, and Justice for All, to assess the state of legal aid in Myanmar and identify a suitable model for legal aid. The consultancy aimed to determine the viability of existing legal aid networks in Myanmar. During the consultancy, preparations were made for several presentations, including an introduction to legal aid in Mawlamyaing, advanced training on case analysis and case memo writing in Yangon, and a roundtable on legal aid for the Hluttaw in Naypyitaw. The consultancy also involved the development of comments on the draft Legal Aid Law, which were prepared in conjunction with the PRLP COP and DCOP. The consultancy focused on educating legal aid attorneys on skills they lacked, including case analysis, case memo writing, and witness interviewing. Additionally, the consultancy educated both attorneys and non-attorneys on the basics of legal aid, models for legal aid, and legal systems in other countries. As a result of the consultancy, PRLP gained a better understanding of the state of legal aid in Myanmar and developed comments on the draft legal aid law. The consultancy also identified areas for future activities, including providing trainings on additional skills related to legal aid and case analysis and witness interviewing skills. Furthermore, it was recommended that the Introduction to Legal Aid course be provided in additional geographic regions and that some basic training on Excel be provided to participants. This is because many participants lacked familiarity with Excel, which is essential for organizing data concerning cases through a database. The consultancy resulted in the development of several course materials, including a course on case analysis and case memo writing, a course on witness interviewing skills, and a course on introduction to legal aid. These materials were provided to PRLP in electronic form and are available for download from a Dropbox link.