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LexisNexis and the World Justice Project

7/3/2008 3:45:39 PM EST

Ken Thompson World Justice Forum Blog

Posted by Kenneth R. Thompson, II

This week a historical conference on the Rule of Law is taking place in Vienna Austria. The World Justice Forum began July 2, and will conclude on July 5. There have been numerous conferences on the Rule of Law in recent years, I have attended many and LexisNexis has even produced some. What makes this historical is the objective of this conference. Bill Neukom, President of the ABA, and visionary behind the WJF, has tasked all attendees with developing concrete programs which can be acted upon. This is an effort to not only talk about the Rule of Law but to actually do something about it.

The vision for the WJF, was to bring together leaders from multiple disciplines, over 15 disciplines are represented (including Architecture, Engineering, Education and Public Health) from around the world to discuss what can be done to promote, enhance and implement the Rule of Law. This new ground breaking, multi-disciplinary approach to Rule of Law issues recognized by each of the listed disciplines above represents different pieces to the conversation around Rule of Law. And with over 95 countries with representatives, I’d say he was successful!

A theme that struck me particularly today was the conversations around Access to Justice. The Commission for Legal Empowerment of the Poor estimates that 4 billion people today do not have access to the Rule of Law. Women who constitute 51 percent of the world’s population currently own less than 10 percent of the property in the world today. 70% of the children in developing countries have no legal documentation. Without birth certificates or documentation they are automatically excluded from economic and legal systems. These numbers are staggering.

In the opening session this morning US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer discussed two concepts, one that division of importance is not countries or cultures but rather reasonable and unreasonable. The Rule of Law is the systems trying to raise the presence of reason in a society.

Finally, Justice Breyer discussed the importance of conversation; conversation allows people to learn from each other. Conversations have no winners or losers, they have no end. At the base of any element of the Rule of Law is conversation. I look forward to seeing this one continue – and encourage your thoughts on conversations around Access to Justice.