Triskadecaphoria

Each year, Uganda sends two of its judges for a week-long training program in mediation at Pepperdine Law School’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution.  The Straus Institute is world renowned and has been ranked first in the country for nine years in a row.  Judges and lawyers from across the county and around the world regularly descend upon Malibu for this intensive and valuable workshop.  During the training session in August, I spent some time with the two Ugandan judges who had made the journey.  That conversation led to a plan, which turned into a proposal, and is now embodied in a program.

Rather than bringing two Ugandan judges to be trained in Malibu, we have brought four trainers from Malibu to provide training in Uganda.  And rather than two Ugandans receiving training, that number has been multiplied . . . by fifty.

Mediation was first rolled out in Uganda in 2009 in the Commercial Division of the High Court under the able leadership of Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire (fondly known as Justice K by his Pepperdine friends).  In fact, the first-ever court-annexed mediator for the country was Pepperdine Law graduate John Napier, who served as Pepperdine’s first Nootbaar Fellow – a one-year fellowship program.  Mediation in the Commercial Court has been so successful, it is being rolled out this month to the rest of the civil divisions (Land, Family, Civil) in the country.

And the centerpiece of that rollout is this week’s training session, which is a joint project of the Pepperdine’s Global Justice Program in the Nootbaar Institute and Pepperdine’s Straus Institute.  As the Global Justice Program’s Director, my role is primarily logistical and diplomatic – the actual training will be provided by Pepperdine Professor Stephanie Bell, Pepperdine Adjunct Professor Denise Madigan, and Judges Mitch Goldberg and Paul Beeman.  Pepperdine’s current Nootbaar Fellow, Susan Vincent, has been diligently working directly with the Ugandan Judiciary to ensure everything was arranged on the Ugandan side.

As we planned this project, we envisioned training forty judges and forty lawyers.  But when the program was announced, the interest was so strong, we agreed to expand it to fifty judges and fifty lawyers.  We are told that the lawyer slots were filled within a few hours of the announcement.

The Straus Institute agreed to put on this program for an amount of money that may or may not fully cover the actual expenses incurred by the team.  None of the presenters for this week-long training session are being paid for their time.  The standard price for this program is $5,000 per attendee.  I am proud to be a part of an institution that values the rule of law and its relationship with Uganda enough to invest in the country’s future in this important way.

While I won’t actually be actively involved in training the Ugandans, I intend to be quite busy during this eight-day trip.  I have lined up numerous meetings relating to ongoing projects I am involved in, and will be actively exploring additional projects, a few of which appear very promising.

I will also be connecting with Henry and Joseph as they prepare to begin their next educational chapters.  Henry and Joseph are Ugandan young men I met four years ago while they were imprisoned juveniles, trapped in a broken system.  More on that here.  Joseph recently received his Senior Four national exam scores, and will hopefully be starting Senior Five in just over a week.  He scored quite well, though not as well as he hoped or expected.  We are in the process of nailing down where he will complete his high school education.

Henry should be receiving his Senior Six national exam scores at some point in the next month or so, after which he is very much hoping to enroll in medical school in August.  Over the past six weeks (since I was last here in Uganda), Henry has received an up-close-and-personal view of the Ugandan medical system as he has tried to navigate through the frustrating and time-consuming process of getting his father treated for acute abdominal pain and yellowing eyes.  Initially, they waited in the hospital for eight days, just to get an MRI and CT scan.  A few weeks later, they received the results.  A few weeks later still, they had a chance to meet with a surgeon and have learned that a tumor in his bile duct requires immediate surgery.

Joline and I were able to borrow against the equity in our home to pay for the medical costs and I am hopeful the surgery will happen while I am here this next week.  Prayers are greatly appreciated as medical care in Uganda lacks the predictability and success rates we enjoy in the West.

On a brighter note, Justice K and his wonderful wife Winnie are expecting their third child to be born via C-Section on Tuesday of this week.

I remain hopeful that we will receive the ruling in Henry’s appeal in the near future – there is an outside chance it could happen this week.

My plan is to provide daily updates while I am in town.  Thanks for following along.