Blue Law International

We strengthen human rights institutions and support legal reform that helps to ensure full access to justice for groups that are often excluded, such as women, children, and persons with disabilities.

BlueLaw’s Human Rights and Inclusive Development practice has designed and implemented human rights and inclusive development projects in more than twenty-five countries worldwide. We work to build and strengthen national human rights institutions, advance human rights law, disability law and policy reform, and lead participatory human rights education on a range of human rights treaties such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

With the American University Center for Global Peace in Iraq, BlueLaw has worked with Iraqi officials and NGOs – including leading judges, members of parliament, the Human Rights Minister and her staff, and leading human rights advocates – on the establishment of an Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights. Under the same grant, we worked directly with the Iraqi human rights committee within the parliament on reviewing and revising draft human rights legislation.

BlueLaw has worked to ensure that justice sector institutions are accessible to all. Under USAID’s Elections and Political Processes (EPP) IQC and several small grants, BlueLaw has performed assessments on election access for persons with disabilities (Indonesia, Morocco, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Liberia, Armenia), provided training to election commissions on legal reforms and election access strategies to facilitate better access consistent with international standards (Liberia, Armenia, Morocco) and developed innovative materials for use in voter education programming for marginalized groups (Iraq, Morocco, Egypt).

BlueLaw trains and advises members of the civilian justice system — police, courts, and judicial security service — on effective partnerships for improved public safety.

Our significant experience in the U.S. justice systems and military provides unique perspective on the shifting challenges of pursuing stability, justice, and security in developing countries. Drawing on our knowledge and experience in responsive government, equitable and organized administration of justice, and professional preparation and supervision of military and law enforcement personnel, we strengthen crucial public services relating to public safety. Our expertise encompasses:

Promoting the rule of law — Understanding the conceptual cornerstones of the rule of law, not of individuals and elites, we help build the systems, institutions, and skills necessary to secure the basic processes of justice in post-conflict states as well as more expansive management and coordinated arrangements in other developing countries. Our expertise and programmatic experience includes: administrative legal reform, strengthening the formal judicial and court institutions, and improving legal systems that deliver justice to juveniles and vulnerable groups.

Strengthening public administration — Coming from the many points of the public compass as we do, we build from the experience of the various public administrative systems we used to lead and work within. Public administration is more than training or concepts, it is about the systems, the administrative coordination, and the strategic planning necessary to achieve effective service delivery to and on behalf of citizens.

Security sector reform — We regularly provide expertise in security and stabilization projects for USAID and the Department of State. Our personnel combines best practices from other disciplines to enhance law enforcement effectiveness and community responsiveness We develop tools and resources for this growing field with a focus on specific problems, such as juvenile justice, or on broad systems integration, such as within the maritime sector.

BlueLaw advises government and commercial customers in government procurement, procurement ethics, and associated regulatory compliance matters.

For four years, BlueLaw served as in-house consultants to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s prestigious and internationally renowned Lincoln Laboratories, one of the premier applied research laboratories in the world that carries out extensive research programs on behalf of the Department of Defense and other government entities. In this capacity, we have advised MIT on Federal Acquisition Regulation requirements, control of international visitors and foreign contacts, procurement integrity and employee ethics, Arms Export Control Act compliance, and a broad spectrum of other regulatory matters.

BlueLaw is one of the leading development firms in the area of government procurement reform and anticorruption. From 2006-2008, we implemented an innovative Millennium Challenge Corporation project helping Albania prepare for European Union and NATO accession by building an open, transparent and resilient government procurement system. This project supported Albania’s first large e-procurement, successfully resulting in the purchase of imported electricity for the entire nation for 2008. The Prime Minister was so pleased with this program that, after a tragic explosion at a munitions recycling factory caused in large part by a “crony contract” award, he immediately ordered all previously excluded Ministry of Defense procurements to be tendered using the new e-procurement system. In addition, we assisted in providing the legislative and enforcement infrastructure by drafting e-procurement and digital signature laws for Albania and establishing and training the Public Procurement Ombudsman’s Office to provide an inspector general capacity for the new Public Procurement Authority.

BlueLaw International has also provided procurement and compliance consulting services to several large defense contractors and other commercial clients.

BlueLaw organizes trains, advises, and assists foreign law enforcement and security agencies in developing sustainable democratic public security systems.

Drawing from our civil and criminal justice work, our significant military pedigree, and our human rights expertise, our Integrated Law Enforcement and Development practice focuses on law enforcement support and training solutions. Recognizing that law enforcement is a local endeavor, we work closely with host-country counterparts to assess requirements and communities and thereby focus our advice, training, and mentorship on what will work, rather than what might be. Our work promoting better public service in law enforcement and public security includes:

Law enforcement training management and certifications — More democratic, transparent, and responsive policing is a complex reform process – one in which skills development and training plays an important, though not exclusive, role. Putting emphasis on both crime prevention and response, our ILED experts help domestic police and public security forces build sustainable, internal reform initiatives through the design, development, and implementation of a variety of basic and advanced police training. We emphasize the need for local leadership and expertise by promoting professional standards, certifications, and societies. Moreover, understanding that policing is a skills-focused profession, we also mentor local police and security forces organize, train, equip and operationalize specialized and functional units within their services.

Leadership, management, organizational development, and planning — No public organization survives solely on well-trained line staff; the development of mid-level and senior leaders able to recognize, nurture, and manage change is crucial. To promote efficient, effective, and accountable leadership within public security agencies, we provide mentorship, advisory assistance, and training in such necessary aspects of public agency leadership as strategic planning, policy development, budget execution, and human capital management. Drawing on municipal, state, and national level law enforcement expertise, we aim for durable reforms by focusing on skills in, and communities of, practice.

Public security advisory services — Police do not bear the burden of enforcing the law and maintaining public order alone. Indeed, law enforcement services often include independent intelligence, constabulary, paramilitary, and even military roles. Recognizing the importance of the security sector to sustainable democratic reform, we work in the practice of law enforcement and public security and in the interagency overlap between those forces and other public agencies and civic organizations. For example, drawing on our military, administrative, and legislative expertise, we have helped facilitate the development of new national security architecture. Similarly, in the maritime sector, we have explored the overlap between law enforcement, economic development and disaster response. As such, in these arenas our ILED practice works closely with our Security and Justice practice to provide security sector reform, civil military relations, customs and border control, military police, maritime security and joint operations concept development expertise for Department of State and Department of Defense projects.