Creating Sustainable Communities
of Public Interest Lawyers (Past Project)

From 2013 through 2017, the U.S.-Asia Law Institute (USALI) carried out a project entitled “Building Sustainable Communities of Public Interest Advocates.” The project sought to promote the rule of law and overcome long-standing obstacles to the enforcement of lawful rights by supporting the development of professional networks in three substantive areas: property rights, labor rights, and the right to be free from discrimination.

This project had two overarching goals. First, we aimed to help build a sense of community among Chinese advocates working on common challenges in each of the three issue areas. Second, we aimed to assist Chinese advocates in developing legal strategies to overcome long-standing, difficult obstacles to the enforcement of rights in these three areas.

Over the course of several workshops, we created a space for participants in each issue area to learn from each other’s experiences in conducting their work. Our ultimate goal was to support the development of durable networks of legal professionals working on common issues of policy and law and enhance their capacity to solve complex legal and social problems in each area.