Capacity Building and Technical Assistance to Legal Aid Providers

Case-tracking systems

One of the elements missing from analyses of legal aid in Cambodia is a clear understanding of efficiencies and costs in providing services.  

PRAJ is currently assisting two key legal aid NGOs, LAC and CWCC, in the development of case management and tracking systems. These systems help bring a standardized approach to delivering services, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of these services. They help the NGOs and others gain a better understanding of efficiencies and costs in providing service. They also help them evaluate the number of lawyer-hours invested in different types of cases at various stages of the legal process. And they help provide systematic data that NGOs can use to identify skills training needs, and to advocate for court and procedural reforms.

Study Tours

CLEC lawyer (right) talking with Executive Judge of Quezon City Regional Court

Over the years, PRAJ has made a point of encouraging legal aid NGOs to strengthen their ability to work with community-based organizations so they can give more meaningful legal consultation to communities facing land security issues. This is an approach that lawyers in the Philippines have been using for quite some time with great success. With this in mind, PRAJ recently sponsored eight human rights lawyers from CLEC and LICADHO to travel to the Philippines and attend a regional conference on 'lawyering for social justice and human rights.' The conference included presenters and participants from throughout the region, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. PRAJ also arranged for the lawyers to meet with Philippine NGOs to learn how they build relationships with grassroots and government entities.

Model File Systems

PRAJ is also providing its legal aid NGO partners with model file structures to ensure that NGO staff can all review case files easily, while NGO lawyers can use and maintain files on the basis of standard formatting. Model file formatting also helps standardize services, ensuring that legal aid clients get the same quality of service wherever they are.

Individual Mentoring to Legal Aid Lawyers

PRAJ staff specialists provide ongoing advice to legal aid lawyers on case strategy and key legal cases during regular onsite meetings. Training and technical support is also provided through regular and ad hoc lawyer working group meetings in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. The working groups are focused on land rights and women’s and children’s rights, and help lawyers understand how their interventions can help strengthen and mobilize the advocacy efforts of local communities.