JSCA Expands Training for Nicaraguan Civil Judges on the Development of Skills for Oral Litigation and Mediation

July 4, 2017

The first phase of this training program was a week focused on skills for oral litigation in the new civil justice system that went into effect on April 18. The second, to be held this week, will address mediation as a dispute resolution mechanism. Both are being offered for civil judges in Nicaragua by the Justice Studies Center of the Americas (JSCA) with the support of the Commission for the Implementation of Civil Procedure Reform of the Nicaraguan Supreme Court, which is presided over by the Honorable Ileana Pérez, and the Institute for Advanced Judicial Studies, which is also part of the Supreme Court and is directed by Joaquín Talavera.

JSCA Prepares Pilot Project in Cochabamba

June 29, 2017.

JSCA will support the execution of a pilot project in Cochabamba for the implementation of a new judicial management and oral procedure model in civil court, family court and protective measures court in the Bolivian city. JSCA Research and Projects Coordinator Marco Fandiño traveled to Cochabamba June 28 and 29 in order to lay the groundwork for this effort. He met with judges from participating courts as well as Dr. Rudy Siles, the Chief Justice of the Cochabamba Court, and representatives of Fundación Construir and the Magistrate’s Council.

OAS General Assembly Elects Three Members to JSCA’s Board of Directors

June 2017

The 47th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) elected three members to the Justice Studies Center of the Americas (JSCA) Board of Directors. They are Margarita de Hegedus of Uruguay, George Thomson of Canada, and Alexis Mera of Ecuador. The members-elect will join the Board on January 1, 2018.

The international agency has an executive team and a Board of Directors. The former is led by Chilean attorney Jaime Arellano and includes a staff of approximately 20 professionals from different nationalities who staff the Center. The Board of Directors is the corporate governance agency and is responsible for supervising the work of the executive team and approving plans of action, budgets and annual reports.

First Casas de Justicia Meeting for Argentina and Latin America to Be Held in Buenos Aires

June 19, 2017

They are called Casas de Justicia, Casas Comunitarias, Tribunales Multipuertas, Centros Interinstitucionales de Justicia and Multi-Door Courthouses. These names allude to similar experiences from across the region that have been developed to different degrees in different places. The entities bring an array of justice services together in a single space, from information and legal advising to dispute management and resolution and court referrals.

Users can solve commercial disputes involving rentals and debts or inheritances, neighborhood issues such as noise and trash problems and even threats. The centers offer various resolution mechanisms ranging from formal justice (courts) to consensus-based approaches like mediation and conciliation in which the parties to the conflict seek out the most adequate solutions to their needs.

Seminar to Address Importance and Challenges of Hearings in Uruguay’s New Criminal Procedure System

June 15, 2017

The challenges of a hearings-based justice system and its implications for stakeholders who are involved in Uruguay’s new criminal justice process will be addressed during a seminar to be held in Montevideo for attorneys, judges, public defenders, prosecutors and police officers on June 21 and 22. The meeting, entitled “Uruguay’s New Criminal Procedure Code,” is being organized by the Inter-Institutional Commission for the Implementation of the Criminal Procedure Code in Uruguay and the Justice Studies Center of the Americas.

The event, which will be held in the Mario Benedetti Room of the Antel Auditorium, will be inaugurated by Uruguay’s Prosecutor General Jorge Díaz, JSCA Board of Directors President and Uruguayan procedure specialist Santiago Pereira and representatives of the country’s Judicial Branch, public defender’s office and Ministry of the Interior.

JSCA Seeks Interns for Study on the Practice of Law in Latin America

Santiago, June 14, 2017

The Justice Studies Center of the Americas (JSCA), an international agency that is part of the inter-American system headquartered in Santiago de Chile, is now accepting applications for a six-month internship. The individuals selected will form part of a team that will conduct a study on the practice of Law in Latin America.

The study will be conducted in the context of the project “Improving Access to Civil Justice in Latin America,” which JSCA is executing with the technical and financial support of Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

Third Edition of Central American Certificate Program on Criminal Procedure Reform Held in Guatemala City

Guatemala City, June 6, 2017

Criminal justice system stakeholders from Honduras, Argentina, Panama, Guatemala and Peru participated in the first on site phase of the Central American Certificate Program on Criminal Procedure Reform, which JSCA organized in collaboration with Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC), the Institute for Comparative Studies in the Criminal Sciences of Guatemala (ICCGP) and Universidad de Costa Rica. Like the previous version, the program will be hosted by two entities in two different countries. The first on site phase was held June 5-9 in Guatemala City. The second will take place November 27-December 1 in San José, Costa Rica.

The inauguration of this third version featured the participation of USAC Dean of the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences Gustavo Bonilla, JSCA Academic Coordinator Leonel González and ICCGP President Elvyn Díaz.