[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 114 (Monday, August 15, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 15, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
    VERMONT LAWYERS HELP DEVELOP RULE OF LAW IN FORMER SOVIET UNION

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Vermont lawyers have been volunteering 
their time and energies to help develop the rule of law in the emerging 
Democracies of the former Soviet Union.
  They have been helping their counterparts in Russia and other 
democratic states learn the values of the American system of 
jurisprudence, lecturing, and providing videotape instruction on the 
conduct of jury trials and establishing the rule of law for civil 
disputes and criminal matters.
  Many Vermonters are involved in this effort, including our esteemed 
Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, and my very good 
friend, John A. Dooley.
  Mr. President, I ask that the following news report that appeared in 
the Times-Argus of August 10, 1994, be reproduced in its entirety in 
the Congressional Record so that the efforts of Justice Dooley, the 
Vermont Bar Foundation, and George Burrill, president of Associates in 
Rural Development of Burlington can be shared with the American people.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                 [From the Times Argus, Aug. 10, 1994]

 Vermonters Help Lawyers In Russia Establish Rule of Law, Trial By Jury

       Russian lawyers and judges will be getting legal advice 
     from their Vermont counterparts under a contract signed 
     Tuesday between the U.S. Agency for International Development 
     and representatives of the Vermont Bar Foundation and a 
     Burlington based company that specializes in third world 
     development.
       At a ceremony hosted by Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, 
     Associate Justice John A. Dooley and George Burrill, 
     president of Associates in Rural Development of Burlington 
     signed a $75,000 contract with AID to continue an exchange 
     program with the Russian Province of Karelia that Vermont 
     judges and lawyers have been pursuing on a voluntary basis 
     since 1992.
       Project Harmony, which has been part of Vermont's special 
     relationship with Karelia since 1990, and the Vermont Bar 
     Foundation, have created exchanges between the two countries 
     on Vermont and U.S. Constitutional law, judicial systems and 
     federalism, commercial law and environmental laws and 
     regulations.
       On July 26, Justice Dooley and Burril signed the first 
     formal contract for staff services under the Freedom Support 
     Act. The law, enacted two years age, establishes a rule of 
     law exchange between the United States and emerging 
     democracies in the former Soviet Union.
       Nine regions of Russia now experiment with jury trials--but 
     the first was held only last December.
       The Vermont contribution to the establishment of a legal 
     base in Karelia includes videotapes of a jury trial, lectures 
     and detailed procedural advice on establishing the rule of 
     law in civil disputes and criminal matters.
       A delegation of Vermont legal representatives, led by 
     former Gov. Phil Hoff, John Downs and Jan Eastman began 
     developing a legal exchange with Karelia in 1990.
       Justice Dooley, Downs, William Sessions, Mark Oetiinger, 
     David Kelley, Eastman and the late Bishop John Marshall 
     lectured to audiences of lawyers, government and business 
     representatives in Russia.
       A delegation of Karelian judges and Ministry of Justice 
     staff visited Vermont in October 1993 to study the Vermont 
     legal system. Upon their return to Karelia, the group formed 
     a bar association similar to the Vermont model and the 
     government began examining options to license and regulate 
     the profession.
       At ceremonies in Leahy's Agriculture Committee hearing 
     room, the Senator praised the efforts of the Vermont Bar and 
     Project Harmony for ``helping the Russians understand the 
     laws that govern our lives as Americans--and guiding them 
     toward greater Democratic participation in the system.''

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