Legal lessons
Gisvold serves as country director for Kosovo and Montenegro as part of the Central and East European Law Initiative (CEELI). "CEELI is a project of the American Bar Association, sort of like the Peace Corps for lawyers," said Gisvold. CEELI provides an opportunity for lawyers trained in American law to venture abroad and share their knowledge and experience while doing pro bono work. CEELI allows these lawyers, as well as lawyers from Western Europe, to work with nations and peoples predominantly in Central and Eastern Europe to solidify the legal foundations requisite for national growth.
"Homer Moyer and Sandy D'Alemberte put together the idea of sending U.S. legal expertise to Bulgaria, right after the wall came down in Germany," Gisvold said. The organization has since played a role in the legal reform of 26 countries. Most of these are Central and Eastern European countries, but they also include Kenya and Oman, and plans are also in the works to send liaisons to China.
Gisvold cited four primary areas in which CEELI provides assistance: "first, technical legal assistance-we help develop legal associations, such as bar associations, associations of judges, associations of young law students. We provide technical assistance for the drafting of laws and constitutions." Gisvold pointed to an instance following the unrest in Albania where CEELI was brought in, along with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), to work with the Albanians on a constitutional drafting project. But he noted that CEELI's technical assistance is more often sought for work on a single law.
The second element of CEELI is to provide legal training. "We can go directly to offering the training ourselves or we can go through the legal associations mentioned," said Gisvold. "In Kosovo we help the Bar Chamber of Advocates run programs on local law and we also focus on international treaties." Gisvold pointed out the importance of such legal training because much of Kosovo was unaware that international treaties, such as those governing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, even existed.
Also, CEELI provides these countries with a link to the system of American law, according to Gisvold. "Most of Europe follows a Napoleonic or codified law tradition, and some [countries] may be influenced by socialist or communist law," said Gisvold. "The people we work with have a large desire to learn about common law, so we provide someone who has been trained in this school and can teach about it."
The final provision of CEELI is human rights work. CEELI's work in this area seems to be the most widespread, but the least direct of the four. "Like teaching English may be a part of a Peace Corps project, incorporating human rights and judicial standards are part and parcel of each of these categories," Gisvold said. CEELI has demonstrated marked success with this program over its twelve years of existence. Gisvold said that "Poland, Lithuania, and Slovenia are countries that have graduated. They now have their own internal capacity to continue to improve their legal systems, and Slovakia is not far from achieving this."
With this background, it seems only appropriate to turn our attention to Kosovo and Gisvold's role in assisting the Kosovars. Some of his early work in Kosovo was with a statistician, several Croatians who spoke Serbian and several Bosnians. Together they compiled statistical data that would serve as a collective voice for the Kosovars in the courtroom for hearings on war crimes.
A growing project
In 2000, Gisvold assumed his post as "country director" in Kosovo. "[My task was] to take over a small house [used as an office] and a small project that had just received a grant to get a whole lot bigger," said Gisvold. He now supervises six million dollars in legal expertise-six American lawyers, one Canadian, two Albanians, eight Kosovars, two Montenegrans and one assistant in CEELI's Washington, D.C. office.
Thus far, he has been successful in attaining CEELI's objectives. "One of the best things we've done here is association-building," said Gisvold. "Before we got here, the bar was floundering and an association of judges didn't exist. Now these associations have a voice." He has been particularly pleased by the speed with which he has been able to accomplish his goals, as compared to some of his colleagues working in other areas of Europe where people are far less willing to work with Americans.
But not everything can be measured in speed. "One of the important criticisms we level is the failure of the U.N. to adequately consult and involve the Kosovar public in its work," asserted Gisvold. "There is an attitude that the Kosovars should just trust me, I know what's best for them-a paternalism built around their desire for expediency." And this attitude runs countercurrent to the tenets of Gisvold and CEELI.
"The Kosovars I'm working with want there to be a Kosovar state, and they are trying very hard to establish a nation," Gisvold said. "Ultimately, it's on them. CEELI feels that we don't want to do it for you, we want to do it with you." Though this may not be the fastest approach, it lays a sound foundation for the future, according to Gisvold.
Gisvold, who will serve in Kosovo until 2003, hopes to further solidify the Kosovars' foundation by working toward judiciary independence, a sound system for legal education and a human rights standard for the Kosovar people. In Central and Eastern Europe, Gisvold sees "a ready audience, eager to learn."
The consummate teacher
Paramount to becoming a good teacher is the ability to relate to one's pupils. Gisvold's immersion in life abroad has undoubtedly helped him in this vein. "I don't get regular mail. There are days when we have power and water and days we don't," he said. "And there are less obvious restrictions: I can't find peanut butter-I love peanut butter but I can't find it." Such life obstacles come with the territory.
Gisvold's everyday life is almost impossible to comprehend; it is one of tanks, driving lessons about how to avoid landmines, buildings demolished by Cruise missiles and unfilled "potholes" caused by Dumb Bombs. "[There is] an Alice-in-Wonderland-like atmosphere of being here," explained Gisvold.
This different way of life is evident in regular daily tasks, such as one of his typical jaunts to the bank in Macedonia where he received salaries for his co-workers. "I'd drive to Macedonia and pick up a great deal of money, in cash. Sometimes I'd stop at McDonald's on the drive back, but it's all just surreal," said Gisvold. "I'm driving around and I don't feel worried at all, because there's a NATO helicopter hovering in the air and there are NATO troops standing over there."
With regard to the World Trade Center tragedy, Gisvold discussed one man with whom he spoke. "He likened the attacks on the U.S. to the death of his father, because the death of his father was the most traumatic event in his life," Gisvold said. "I asked him how he came to that conclusion, and he said that he's always known what it's like to be hated for who he was, but never known that Americans could be too. He concluded that if Americans were hated to this depth then [they] truly have something in common with Kosovo." Gisvold emphasized that despite the hatred expressed towards the U.S. in the events of Sept. 11, the man resolutely aspired to practice the American lifestyle.
Gisvold and CEELI's role in Kosovo is not to promote the American lifestyle, so much as it is to afford the Kosovars the opportunity to construct the lifestyle of their choice. Gisvold has played a crucial role in this endeavor, not just in presenting this opportunity, but presenting it from the perspective of one who has begun to understand what life is like for the Kosovars and is able to help them all the more because of it.
One of Gisvold's most memorable experiences aptly depicts his role. He took a group of Kosovar lawyers to the U.S. to learn about the American Bar Association and how it functions as a voice for the legal community. "These are men who have regarded America as their savior," said Gisvold. "The met their American counterparts and saw something to aspire toward. When we returned to Kosovo, they told me I had succeeded in teaching them how to fish." The consummate teacher indeed.