Networking with Partners and Prime Ministers
We ended the week at this magnificent castle but it was definitely not the best part of this amazing week! Thanks to some killer networking Ariana and I were able to visit the Eversheds Sutherland office in Vilnius and meet with the managing partner. Needless to say, we were excited for this opportunity, but it truly surpassed our wildest dreams. When we arrived at the office we didn’t even need to introduce ourselves, the woman at the front desk ushered us into a conference room and offered us coffee. Mr. Saladžius greeted us warmly and asked us about our time in Vilnius. He had just returned from the international Eversheds meeting in Moscow and we were so thankful he was able to make time to meet with us.
We talked about our interest in international law and I asked him about the firms work in the energy and environmental sector. Almost all my work experience has been focused on the environment, both in the administration of my university and the non-profit sector. I am very passionate about the environment but was reluctant to commit to it as a practice area because I’m eager to fight for and learn about other things. Mr. Saladžius told us about a slew of lawsuits the team had worked on to establish a waste to power generator a few miles outside the city. There had been enormous pressure from the natural gas and coal companies who immediately filed law suits to stop the project. Eversheds won, and the plant takes tons of waste and cleanly transforms it into hot water and electricity.
This was the most amazing thing I had ever heard! I was so excited to learn more about the lawsuits and the entire process. I told him that waste to power generators were never considered in the US and we talked about the diverging renewable energy preferences in our two countries. This was already the coolest conversation I had ever had, but then it got even more amazing! Mr. Saladžius told us he wanted to make our stay in Vilnius as wonderful as possible and that he would like to set up a shadow program where we could come into the office whenever we wanted, shadow the lawyers as they work with clients and go on trips to places of interest, like the Supreme Court! We were flabbergasted. This was not what we had expected to come out of this meeting! We thanked him profusely for giving us this amazing opportunity and told him we would be more than happy to help with any research or work he needed done.
We concluded the meeting with a tour of the office which boasts amazing views of the river. All the associates greeted us kindly and seemed excited for us to join the team. The last person we met had just passed the Bar a few weeks before and seemed incredibly happy to have some other people around to pick up any extra work. Ariana and I thanked Mr. Saladžius for the millionth time and walked out of the building with smiles plastered on our faces. I think I was literally shaking with excitement.
But the incredible kindness of Mr. Saladžius didn’t stop there! When we got back to our apartment I had an email from him saying he had the chance to register us for an event that would start in just a few hours. The Council of World Woman Leaders, a network of woman who have been Presidents or Prime Ministers, was having a screening of “My Year with Helen” a documentary about Helen Clark, the first woman elected to be Prime Minister of New Zealand! The film followed her in her campaign to be the Secretary-General of the United Nations! How incredible is that!?
At the end of the movie Mrs. Clark herself was there to answer questions. She told this group of young women that no one would roll out a red carpet for us but that shouldn’t prevent us from breaking every glass ceiling we come across. On our way to the wine and cheese reception Ariana and I had the opportunity to speak to Mrs. Clark!!! We talked about how, in America, it doesn’t seem like equality is really within reach. She encouraged us to keep pushing forward and to use our power to be the leaders we want to see.
I also got to fangirl a little bit because, before her bid to be SG of the UN, she ran the United Nations Development Program. The UNDP has been critical to the research I’m doing this summer. Their studies and reports on Legal Aid systems around the world have been incredibly valuable to my access to justice research. I am still in shock that I was able to talk to her about how much her work has helped me. What an unforgettable experience.
I have collected a lot of research, more than I need for the 20-minute speech I will be presenting in a few weeks; luckily, we also have the opportunity to write a paper and get it published in the Baltic Criminology Journal so I’m sure I will be able to utilize most of it and I'm glad a chose the topic I did.
I think access to justice is a fundamental right that is being ignored in developed nations. Access to justice is not just access to a court but begins with the victim’s ability to recognize their right and feel confident enough to enter the system. Once they make the decision to vindicate their right they must be able to obtain the requisite level of legal competence and assistance to effectively pursue that claim. I believe that information communication technology and artificial intelligence can help make the judicial system less intimidating and more accessible. Technology can help educate people about their rights, help them access an attorney in a way that is convenient to them, make the court system more efficient and the process less burdensome overall.
The UNDP research was helpful, even though it focused on developing nations, because those nations have implemented things that could easily improve access to the justice in developed countries as well. For example, mobile legal help apps and pop-up legal consultations where victims can learn about their rights. People are more likely to enter the justice system when they are familiar with the problem they are facing, unfortunately the average person knows very little about the law and their rights. Even contacting a lawyer about a possible legal claim can seem like a daunting task, things like the Robot Layer chat bot can make getting necessary information less intimidating and certainly less costly.
Once a person has decided to bring a claim they are committing to a process that will require a lot of time and money. Things like the Paperless Court initiative allow filing to be done online, therefore cutting costs and improving efficiency. Technology can be used to make certain legal processes like filing for a trademark application or changing your name completely automated; LegalZoom makes it possible to do these things online without having to go to a court. DoNotPay contests parking tickets for free! There are so many innovations that can easily improve people experience in the justice system.
Overall the justice system has been slow to embrace technology, but it is truly inevitable. In a time where people meet their spouses and do their banking online it seems like a no-brainer that you should be able to video chat your lawyer and resolve your dispute without having to enter a courtroom.
In order to recover from this wild week, Ariana and I scooted off for a day trip to Trakai, an incredible and ancient castle situated in the center of a beautiful lake. We took the bus and then walked until we hit the water. Trakai felt like a beach town with families setting up picnics along the shore and people splashing around in the water. Unfortunately, we didn’t think to bring our swimsuits, so we rented a paddle boat and took off into the dark blue lake. The water was cold but not unbearable and while it appeared murky form the surface, when I stuck my feet in I could see them clearly. I would love to come back later in the summer and go for a dip. We also went on a tour of the castle which doubles as a museum. The exhibits consisted of rooms filled with ancient porcelain, pipes, stamps, ivory and even animal heads (we didn’t linger in that room). We wandered through this incredible castle for a few hours then headed back to the bus station. Along the way we stopped at Mojo, a cozy little place that boasted incredible Asian food. It did not disappoint. I got spicy ramen with veggie dumplings, yummm.
