<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html><head><title>International Senior Lawyers Project</title></head> <body alink="#000000" link="#000000" vlink="#000000"><center> <table width="700"><tbody><tr><td><a href="index.html"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 734px; height: 57px;" alt="" src="islplogo3.jpg"></a><br> <img src="banner-3.jpg" name="slide" border="0" height="163" width="734"><br> <table><tbody><tr><td><font face="Arial" size="1">Volunteer Doug Kramer in Russia </font></td><td width="100"></td><td><font face="Arial" size="1">Volunteer Steve Spronz in South Africa </font></td><td width="37"></td><td><font face="Arial" size="1">Volunteers Mo &amp; Mickey Winograd in South Africa</font></td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr></tbody></table><table> </table><table width="740"><tbody><tr><td><a href="aboutus.html"><img src="aboutus.jpg" border="0"></a> <a href="programs.html"><img src="programs.jpg" border="0"></a> <a href="partners.html"><img src="partners.jpg" border="0"></a> <a href="volunteer.html"><img src="volunteer.jpg" border="0"></a> <a href="news.html"><img src="news.jpg" border="0"></a> <a href="contactus.html"><img src="contactus.jpg" border="0"></a> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table bgcolor="#bbbaba" width="740"><tbody><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><a href="French%20Web%20Page-%20A%20Propos%20de%20Nous.html"><img style="border: 0px solid ; height: 19px; width: 147px;" alt="" src="French%20Link%20Button.jpg"></a><br><font face="Arial" size="2"><b><br></b></font><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="Arial" size="2"><b>Current Newsletter</b></font><br></div><a href="newsletters/2008/Summer%202008%20Final%20Draft-Smaller.pdf"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 146px; height: 188px;" alt="" src="current-newsletter2.jpg"></a><p> <a href="raq.html"><img src="request-button.jpg" border="0"></a></p><p> <a href="donate.html"><img src="donate-button.jpg" border="0"></a></p><p> <a href="funders.html"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 147px; height: 19px;" alt="" src="funders.jpg"></a></p><p> <a href="programs.html"><img src="program-button.jpg" border="0"></a><br> <a href="humanrights.html"><img src="HR-button.jpg" border="0"></a><br> <a href="file:///M:/My%20Documents/Jesse/Website/ISLP%20Web/economic.html"><img src="EC-button.jpg" border="0"></a><br> <a href="justice.html"><img src="AJ-button.jpg" border="0"></a></p><p style="height: 105px;"> <a href="geography.html"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 147px; height: 19px;" alt="" src="Where%20We%20Work%20Button.jpg"></a><br> <a href="REE.html"><img src="RE-button.jpg" border="0"></a><br> <a href="SubSaharanAfrica.html"><img src="SA-button.jpg" border="0"></a><br> <a href="india.html"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 147px; height: 19px;" alt="" src="Asia-button.jpg"></a><a href="Latin%20America.html"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 147px; height: 19px;" alt="" src="Latin%20America.jpg"></a></p><p><a href="2006%20project%20report%203%5B1%5D.12.07.pdf"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 147px; height: 18px;" alt="" src="2006project.jpg"></a></p><p><a href="Web%20Issue%202007%20Project%20Report.pdf"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 147px; height: 18px;" alt="" src="2007project.jpg"></a></p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="2007%20Project%20Report.pdf"><br></a></p></td><td valign="top" width="550"><br> <p><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Equitable Economic Development</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Projects undertaken by ISLP that promote equitable economic development and participation in the global economy include teaching and training programs for business lawyers and government officials, legal assistance to social entrepreneurs helping farmers and craftspeople from poor countries gain access to markets at fair trade prices, assistance to microloan and venture capital funds, and law reform that promotes economic development. Recently, ISLP has been gratified to support requests from both government and civil society entities in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Liberia</st1:place></st1:country-region>, a country struggling to recover from a brutal 14-year civil war, to help them move forward with desperately-needed development programs. Examples include:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Liberia</span></b></st1:place></st1:country-region><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> Review of Concession Agreemen</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;">ts</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span><small><small><small><small>&nbsp;</small></small></small></small><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;">In late 2005, the Liberian government approached ISLP for assistance in reviewing, analyzing, and possibly renegotiating long-term concession agreements with corporate giants&nbsp;&nbsp;Mittal Steel and Firestone Rubber that had been entered into by the previous transitional government. For the review of the contract with Mittal Steel, ISLP put together a truly extraordinary team of volunteers, led by Prof. Robert Hillman of the University of California at Davis Law School, and including ISLP Board member Natasha Lisman of the Boston Firm of Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak &amp; Cohen, Partner Joel Cohen and associates from New York's Cravath, Swaine &amp; Moore and Harvard Business School Professor Louis Wells.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>Our volunteers eventually assisted in three intensive rounds of negotiations which resulted in a billion dollar agreement that the news service Reuters described as a "coup" and one of President Johnson Sirleaf's major achievements of her first year in office.&nbsp;&nbsp;Soon afterwards, partner and ISLP Board member Joseph Bell of the <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:state> office of Hogan &amp; Hartson began the review and renegotiation of&nbsp;&nbsp;a 25-year agreement with Firestone Rubber, which is still in process. In addition, Mike Cheroutes, a retired Hogan &amp; Hartson partner and long-time ISLP volunteer, with assistance from Ella Dodson and Mark Lowe of the New York-based maritime law firm of Hill Betts &amp; Nash LLP, is reviewing&nbsp;agreements between <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Liberia</st1:place></st1:country-region> and Liberian International Ship &amp; Corporate Registry.&nbsp;&nbsp;Achieving equitable agreements on all of these major contracts could contribute significantly toward real growth in the Liberian economy and help support an emerging democratic African state. </span></div><p class="MsoBodyText"><small><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: black;"> </span></small></p> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoBodyText"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Commercial Law Training Program:</span></b><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">From its modest beginnings as </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">a pilot program in <st1:city w:st="on">Johannesburg</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region> in 2004, the ISLP <span style="">Commercial Law Training Program</span> has grown to include an intensive one-week program in <st1:city w:st="on">Dar es Salaam</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Tanzania</st1:country-region> in February 2007 and now a full-fledged 12-week training program in both <st1:city w:st="on">Johannesburg</st1:city> and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cape Town</st1:place></st1:city> this July. The CLTP will expand once again with a five-week pilot program in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Gaborone</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Botswana</st1:country-region></st1:place>, in July and August 2007. The trainings pair experienced commercial law attorneys from the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> with local business lawyers to teach the practicalities of commercial law to attorneys who have historically been denied opportunities to practice in this area. All instructors provide their time on a<i> pro bono </i>basis. More than 200 attorneys have completed the courses in the past 3 years and over 100 attorneys are registered for this summer's programs. A generous grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation supports the 2007 and 2008 programs, as well as a conference to be held in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Johannesburg</st1:city></st1:place> in the fall to review the impact of the training programs in helping to expand commercial law opportunities for black attorneys.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Trade Negotiation Training:</span></b><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">ISLP's inaugural program on trade negotiation skills for the Ministry of Trade and Finance in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Botswana</st1:place></st1:country-region> took place in late 2006 and we have just completed our second annual training for the Rwandan government trade office. In partnership with the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), ISLP volunteers Patrick Macrory and Stephen Lande developed and conducted a one-week trade negotiation training program in May 2007 for approximately 20 members of the Rwandan government trade office. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:place></st1:country-region> was selected for this training program because it is a member of several regional trade agreements, has assumed an important role in international trade negotiations, and because its government expressed an urgent need for such technical assistance. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Improving Access to Credit for SMEs:</span></b><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">ISLP will send a volunteer to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Ghana</st1:country-region></st1:place> for two weeks in Fall 2007 to join a training team led by partner Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA). The goal is to facilitate greater trade competitiveness in <st1:place w:st="on">West Africa</st1:place> by improving access to credit for small and medium enterprises (SME), especially those involved in export. During the 2-week training, an ISLP volunteer will offer specialized instruction on corporate governance issues to both and financial institutions/funders and SMEs to enhance relationships and improve their ability to respectively lend and borrow effectively.</span></div><p style="font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><small> </small></p></td><td style="font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;" valign="top" width="50"><small> </small></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: Arial; text-align: justify;"><small> </small></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><center><font face="Arial" size="-2"><small> islp.org. all rights reserved. copy</small>right 2008</font></center></div> </center></body></html>