New Legal Aid Clinic Opens in the Transnistrian Region

ABA ROLI Country Diector, Stephen Larrabee, and the Director of the Tiraspol branch of the Moscow Academy of Law & Economics cutting the ribbon at the opening of the Tiraspol Legal Clinic. April 29, 2009. On April 29, USAID launched a new university-based legal aid clinic at the Tiraspol branch of the Moscow Academy of Law & Economics.  Funded through the Rule of Law program and implemented by ABA ROLI, the Academy contributed the facilities and staff for the clinic.  The clinic will provide pro bono legal services to community members while training law students in practical skills including how to interview, consult and represent clients in court, as well as how to negotiate and resolve disputes with opposing parties before resorting to court. At the opening of the clinic, the director of the Academy welcomed this first collaboration with a western donor and stated, “Our students need to be prepared in a way that they have the knowledge, the skills, and the expectations that will enable them to live in this new world.” Although the Transnistrian region is not seeking EU integration, it is nevertheless advantageous for Transnistrian law students to learn and familiarize themselves with the legal education reforms and methods that their counterparts experience abroad.   Under the supervision of its attorney and law faculty supervisors, law students will serve the dual goals of legal clinics: practical skills training for law students and free legal assistance for indigent and low-income clients in the community.  In the Transnistrian region, law students traditionally receive a theory-based lecture style education that leaves them under-prepared to represent clients after they graduate.  The practical skills these students will acquire in the legal clinic will produce better qualified lawyers and promote the rule of law by providing free legal services to low income clients who would otherwise not be able to assert or protect their legal rights.

<< Back to the list of recent events