BACKGROUND

CLEC, PILAP's implementing partner, was established in 1997 by the University of San Francisco School of Law with the support of USAID. Since then, CLEC has been a substantial provider of legal training and education in Cambodia. It developed and implemented law courses in the country's two main business and law schools, the National Institute of Management and the Faculty of Law; contributed to the process of making major new laws, such as the Land Law and Criminal Code; conducted legal seminars for the NGO community, government, and judiciary; and taught thousands of Cambodian working adults through its certificate in law program.

Localized and registered as an NGO in 2001, CLEC is a group of highly-committed professionals dedicated to the development of the rule of law and democracy in Cambodia. To achieve these aims CLEC works at a number of levels. Firstly, CLEC cooperates with human rights and community development organizations to reach people at the grassroots level building a sense of legal awareness and empowerment. Secondly, CLEC does capacity-building work targeted at people such as NGO workers and government officials who need to understand about the law to carry out their work; and thirdly, CLEC engages in policy debate and advocacy work in order to improve Cambodia's legal framework.

CLEC is currently focusing its work in a number of priority areas such as Land Law and Natural Resources Law; Labor Law; Governance, Justice and Alternative Dispute Resolution, etc.

- Legal Research, Publications and Literacy:

• Provides technical assistance to government institutions and NGOs on legal matters, including reviewing and drafting laws and regulations

• Produces legal textbooks in English and Khmer

• Offers Certificate in Law training program

• Conducts specialized legal training workshops

• Maintains a law library and legal resource center for public use

- Land and Natural Resources Law Project

- Public Interest Legal Advocacy Project (PILAP)

TEXTBOOK PUBLICATION

A primary function of the CLEC has been the production of legal textbooks. To date, 19 such texts have been produced on subjects ranging from commercial laws to rights-based laws to laws pertaining to governance and democracy. All the texts are available in Khmer and English.

CLEC LEGAL RESOURCE LIBRARY

The CLEC legal resource library contains a substantial collection of Cambodian and international legal resources including laws, texts, reports, research papers, teaching aides and other materials. The library is open to the public and may be accessed (and materials borrowed) during regular business hours.

CERTIFICATE IN LAW PROGRAM

The CLEC offers law courses to the general public in 15-week (45 hour) cycles. Course subjects change each cycle, and are offered in the evenings and Saturday mornings to cater to working adults. Subjects are chosen based on demand and current societal needs. Certificates are awarded for the successful completion of each course.