Week III: 06/13/2022 - 06/17/2022
This week, I got to finally meet the team at the Center for Anti-Corruption and Democratic Trust in person at a barbeque/pasta dinner in Northern Virginia and a happy hour event at National Harbor (Maryland). In addition, I met country directors from country offices as diverse as Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. Country directors were traveling to IFES headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, to attend an awards dinner and participate in workshops to celebrate that thirty-fifth anniversary of the founding of IFES. It was fascinating to listen to stories about their work in these countries.
One thing I noticed while traveling to Northern Virginia and National Harbor is that even though Washington, D.C., is one of the few cities in the United States with a proper public transportation system I could not help but feel that the system maybe inadequate. Even though rail has grown in reach in Northern Virginia, you still need cars to go anywhere that is not particularly close to the station. On the other side of town, it is inexcusable that so few buses are available to ride from a metro station to National Harbor, this supposedly trend stop for gambling, shopping, and eating in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Perhaps I am lamenting too much, but maybe I will get to live somewhere with a more robust public transportation system that is not in New York. One can only hope.
On the non-social side, I continued to draft and edit case summaries for cases in various countries. I also continued to perform comparative research on attorney regulations. This type of research has been enlightening to say the least. In some countries, rules and sanctions are administered on a national level. In other countries, attorney regulations are more decentralized to sub-national jurisdictions. In some countries, courts have more powerful tools to deter misconduct. In other countries, the law societies/bars take on greater responsibility. Finally, I finished my first round of edits on a video interview, and I plan on starting work with a second video in the coming week.
electionjudgments.org/en/