International Law Fellows Network | Safeguarding Democracy and the Rule of Law: The Crucial Role of Rising International Lawyers

The rule of law is essential to effective governance and the preservation of individual rights. It underlies transnational cooperation and problem-solving. In 2010, after six decades of commitment to programs on the international rule of law, and to honor the influential US lawyer and presidential legal advisor Lloyd N. Cutler, Salzburg Global founded the Lloyd N. Cutler Center for the Rule of Law. 

The Salzburg Global International Law Fellows Network creates an active association of promising younger associates and aspiring international lawyers at early stages of their careers to help them understand and effectively engage on a range of issues that critical to safeguarding the rule of law. 

International lawyers play a critical role in designing policy and advising global leaders in the public and private sectors. The Salzburg Global International Law Fellows Network connects those with immense promise but still at early stages of their careers and supports their professional growth and deepens their understanding of how their areas of practice can support and preserve the rule of law and rules-based order.

This program convened 28 early- to mid-career leading international and transnational lawyers from the US, Europe, Latin America, and Asia each with 5 to 10 years of legal practice. At this moment in their professional development, younger lawyers have the experience to understand the implications of their respective practices on the larger issues of the rule of law but also the flexibility to shape their future professional development in a way that allows them to maximize their contributions to these issues through their future practices. 

Participants had experience in private practice, international institutions, national governments, the not-for-profit sector, and academia. All participants excel in their respective areas of practice, demonstrate a commitment to upholding democracy and promoting the rule of law, and share intellectual curiosity around the power of law as an agent of change. 

This program was open to Fellows of the Cutler Center for the Rule of Law, lawyers from firms that hold membership in the International Bar Association, those sponsored by our partners, and others that wish to apply.

The two-and-a-half-day intensive program used a mix of pedagogical approaches to build expertise and maximize ways in which every participant can share and learn. It combined plenary discussion, curated conversations, and practical small working groups.

The meeting adhered to the Chatham House Rule, in order to allow for candid and open exchange of ideas. 

• Build a network of legal professionals committed to furthering the rule of law through their practice.
• Consider innovative and multipronged solutions to current threats and challenges facing the rule of law globally.
• Create resources to promote integrating rule of law principles in international law practice more widely.

• What steps must be taken to ensure the regulation of emerging technologies, in the context of the 21st century artificial intelligence arms race, upholds rule of law principles?
• What is at the root of democratic backsliding? And how can the international rule-based order encourage democratic principles at the domestic level?
• How can the rule of law mitigate geopolitical conflict and sanctions regimes to protect marginalized people?