Lawyers in the Caucasus: Climbing out of the Communist Shadows

Abstract

The role of lawyers in legal systems in transition countries is not well understood. For example, democracy scholar Thomas Carothers has argued that ‘the emphasis on judiciaries is widespread in the rule-of-law field, with the terms judicial reform and rule-of-law reform often used interchangeably.’¹ That is not to say that funders of rule of law technical assistance do not recognize the importance of reforming and strengthening the profession of lawyers in the context of advancing broader rule of law reform. However, there has been little in the way of articulating why it is that lawyers are important to broader rule of law reform and economic development. In short, the approach to reforming the profession of lawyers has been more a mantra than a clear understanding of how it is this profession fits into the larger constellation of transitional legal systems.