Strengthening the justice sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina & Moldova through collaborative learning partnerships

The problem

Weaknesses in legal education in southeastern Europe have resulted in under-prepared graduates entering the profession. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the pipeline for law students lacked a coordinated approach to experiential learning – a key component in preparing students to become practice ready. This weakness has resulted in under-prepared graduates entering the legal profession and impeding criminal justice reform and anti-corruption efforts. In Moldova, law students lacked proper instruction on legal reasoning, research, and writing. Poorly reasoned court decisions by judges and defective pleadings submitted by lawyers to courts have been attributed to a failure to develop a foundation in legal reasoning, research and writing skills during the stage students study law at law faculties. 

Key reforms, results & impacts

With financial support from the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL), our team created a regional approach to promoting legal professionalism and advancing the rule of law. 

The focus was on improving legal education and creating high-value, practice-based opportunities for law students by collaborating closely with local law faculties, justice sector practitioners, judicial institutions, and professional legal associations. In coordination with INL representatives, the Strengthening the Justice Sector by Improving Educational Systems (JUST-ED) initiative significantly impacted the legal education and justice sectors in Bosnia and Herzegovina by:

1. Creating a first-ever nationwide community of practice to institutionalize practice-based learning at all nine public law faculties.
2. Piloting a structured externship program for law students, creating a first-ever systematic approach to expanding outside-the-classroom learning.
3. Implementing the JUST NETWORK, a mentorship program where 15 female legal professionals mentored 15 female law students at the Sarajevo Law Faculty over four months. This initiative fostered mentorship and practical learning through joint presentations on selected legal issues at conferences and events.

In Moldova, a new course, Advancing Legal Reasoning and Writing, was established in partnership with William & Mary Law School and five Moldova law faculties. This two-semester course transforms how law professors teach and how law students learn legal reasoning and writing by developing the student's legal skillset to be practice-ready:

1. In the Semester 1 course, students learn objective legal reasoning and writing, and in Semester 2, students learn persuasive legal reasoning and writing.
2. At Moldova State University, the LRRW course emerged as the course with the highest number of law student enrollment.   
3. Based on a survey across the five law schools, prior to the program none of the law students rated their legal writing skills as superior.  After taking the LRRW course, 42% of law students rated their legal reasoning and writing skills as superior and 50% as advanced. 

Looking ahead

As these initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Moldova continue to mature, there is an exciting opportunity to build on the foundation established through practice-based learning. The collaboration between legal professionals and students will further enhance the educational experience and equip future lawyers with the knowledge and skills necessary for effective practice. 

We had the opportunity to work with experts from practice, to ask what was unclear to us, to have them explain each of the positions during the criminal proceedings, including the perspective of the lawyer (defense), the prosecution, and the judge ... The knowledge and practical experience that they have passed on to us … will follow us until the end of our studies, and their advice and experience will help us in practice even after our studies.

A law student in Bosnia and Herzegovina