Rule of law strategies for USAID/Brazil

The report identifies the existing strengths of Brazil"s judicial system -- respected judicial leaders, adequate financial resources, respected court decisions, existing Brazil-US institutional relationships, emerging recognition of court delay problems, emerging support institutions, national judicial identity, traditions of judge integrity, and recent reform initiatives -- as well as its weaknesses -- case disposition delay, lack of case management system, high litigant court costs, uncontrolled appellate caseloads, intersectoral conflicts, personalized trial court organization, lack of professional court administration, excessive number of appellate judgeships, excessive procedural formalism, commercial law rigidity, and lack of a tradition of building coalitions for judicial reform. A final section outlines a Rule of Law strategy for Brazil focused on strengthening: (1) legal institutions with appellate court management and structures for judicial system governance; (2) access to justice, via expansion of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures within courts and ADR education programs for special commercial constituencies; and (3) the legal system, via support for the National School of Magistrates, an automation needs assessment, and consultations on case disposition and delay reduction.