The World Bank and legal technical
            assistance : initial lessons
Over the past several years, World Bank
            member countries have increasingly sought Bank assistance in
            improving and reforming their legal systems.  This paper
            catalogs the scope and breadth of such assistance and
            outlines some lessons the Bank has learned.  Countries with
            long and established legal traditions usually seek help only
            in specialized areas of law, and in strengthening the
            judiciary and establishing alternative dispute resolution
            mechanisms.  In countries with lesser developed legal
            systems, legal technical assistance may range from policy
            advice to assistance in drafting legislation, introducing,
            implementing, and enforcing new laws and regulations,
            devising procedures and institutions that carry out new
            laws, designing public information campaigns, and training.
            Lessons the Bank's Legal Department has learned
            include: 1) each country must make a choice about the
            direction of its legal reform and must assign its own
            priorities to reform needs; 2) the Bank-financed assistance
            should fit the country's needs as well as the
            Bank's strategies.  Countries usually benefit from
            diagnostic studies or sector analyses; 3) the Bank may not
            be involved in financing legal reform activities unrelated
            to economic development; 4) legal reform is complex and
            long-term.  Except for urgently needed legislation, the most
            suitable lending instruments for legal technical assistance
            are usually those that disburse over a longer time or,
            alternatively, a series of lending operations;  5) the
            Bank's support for a stable, predictable business
            environment free of government arbitrariness may well
            include assistance to the judiciary of borrowing member
            countries; 6) countries are often reluctant to borrow for
            legal technical assistance.  This is especially true for
            borrowing from the IBRD (rathen than IDA); 7) recipient
            governments must demonstrate a clear commitment to legal
            reform and take ownership of legal reform for legal
            technical assistance to bring about the desired results.
            Broad participation by members of local legal professions
            should be sought; 8) for legal technical assistance to
            succeed, there must be proper counterparts in the government
            implementing the assistance.  Some countries may benefit
            from establishing legal reform units to coordinate economic
            and legal reform and to prevent duplication of legal reform
            activities; 9) for quality legal technical assistance at
            affordable rates, it is important to diversify the selection
            of advisors to include local lawyers as well as consultants
            from different legal systems.  But the selection of
            consultants should be consistent with the direction of legal
            reform chosen by the country; 10) training activities
            adjusted to local conditions are essential if legal
            technical assistance is to have a lasting impact.