I'm told I need to blog more. Rightly so.
So, I'll start with tonight. I was invited by Justice Mugenzi of the Supreme Court to attend a dinner hosted by the Supreme Court. If I recall correctly, it was at a restaurant called the Country Inn. Dinner was fantastic. It was buffet style, but there was a variation on the theme of steak au poivre, which is always a hit with me. The dinner was as a thank you for the several judges from lower instance tribunals who spent several months working at the Supreme Court to gain experience. And, I had a brief introduction for those who didn't know me, and what I was doing at the Court.
The majority if my night was spent speaking in French, and trying to follow along with the Kinyarwanda. But, it was fantastic. I'd say there were about five or six Supreme Court Justices, and the remainder of the ten or so present were judges of the first or second instance tribunals. The most embarrassing part of the evening was after explaining that the law degree conferred in the U.S. was a Juris Doctor, I was called Doctor Brian. Believing that the epitome of egotism is a lawyer who insists on being called a doctor, I spent the rest of the evening trying to convince my Rwandan colleagues that I was in fact just Mister Brian. Despite the confusion of my title vis a vis my academic credentials, it was a nice evening spent with excellent jurists.
As for the rest of my job, things are very busy. I have found myself involved with more and more administrative projects at the Court. Recently I was brought in to consult with the group working with information technology advancements in the Court, and am working with consultants and software developers to ensure that the needs of the judiciary are met with improvements in technology.
Perhaps the coolest project that I am involved with is the publication of Rwandan Law Reports. In brief, Rwanda is in the process of a reform of its judicial system - transitioning from a civil law country to a hybrid civil law / common law country. For those not in the know, here is a very remedial explanation: common law countries (like the U.S.) are those where judges 'make' law with their judicial opinions, creating precedence for lower courts to follow. Civil law countries, on the other hand, do not rely on jurisprudence and rather handle each case in a vacuum, regardless of prior court decisions that relate to the same subject matter.
So, Rwandan is starting to publish select judicial decisions on general points of law. The force of these decisions will be tantamount to secondary legal authority (i.e. not law per se). So, I am advising the reporters of these cases on certain best practices, the manner in which to publish the reports, and how they will be used. In doing so, I am also developing a system of citation for Rwanda, something which will become apparently necessary with the advent of citing to case law. Basically, in a very nerdy way, it's the coolest thing I have yet to do in my young career.
As I get more exposure to the Court, more projects filter in. I'm still working about 50% in French, and 50% in English, which I don't mind.
My week ahead will be filled with meetings and reports, and will be extremely busy. I've been asked to write about the food I'm eating here, and will do so this week. Stay tuned . . .
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