05/04/2021
Meeting of national non-academic partners
On Friday, April 2, 2021, starting at 1 p.m., a meeting of the project management team from the Faculty of Law of UoM was held with representatives of non-academic partners from Montenegro. The meeting was held via the Zoom online application. The meeting attended, on behalf of the Bar Chamber of Montenegro, the Project Manager, Dr. Nina Radulović.
The ENEMLOS training performed in cooperation with Polish partners was under scrutiny, and special attention was drawn to the deficiency in participation of some national partners whose representatives were absent from the training (Notary Chamber and Mediation Center). It was emphasized that the improper performance of partnership obligations endangers the integrity of the project in the eyes of the donor and that similar situations must not occur in the future.
Project coordinator prof. dr. Biljana Đuričin informed the audience about the negotiations on cooperation with the Center for International Legal Cooperation, which is working on judicial reform, with good chances to provide real cases for the legal clinic’s work throughout this cooperation. Also, the present parties were informed about the successfully implemented activities of the Faculty of Law regarding the procurement of computer equipment and furnishing of the business premises in which the clinic will operate, as well as the procurement of library materials from renowned foreign publishers, including electronic databases.
The Activity Plan for the forthcoming period was presented, as follows:
1. Mandatory training for working with the IT platforms that will be used during the clinical work is planned for the end of April, and it will be conducted for national partners by IT experts in the Montenegrin language.
2. By mid-June of the current year, all partners will need to submit a Semi-annual work report.
3. The planned study visits shall be postponed for autumn-winter 2021. These are conditioned by the fulfillment of pandemic protection measures, i.e. vaccination and travel possibilities. A visit to Croatian partners is planned first, followed by visit to Polish partners, and these will most likely be separate from visits by Kosovo partners.
4. The training to be given by the British partners is postponed until further notice due to internal reorganization activities carried out by their home university. The training and the study visit will be adjusted to the circumstances.
5. After reviewing comparative experiences of legal clinics work, possible due to the trainings and study visits, the ENEMLOS manual-book will be prepared. Its drafting welcomes contributions from all the partners (academic and non-academic).
6. Work with "live" clients is planned for the last year of project implementation, while the Erasmus+ program will be asked to extend the project duration for a year, due to delay in activities which is caused by pandemic circumstances. The extension will most likely be requested in the second half of the year, after the submission of the Semi-annual report.
At the request of the BCM, the initiative "GREEN LEGAL AID" was positively assessed and a proposal was adopted to hold a meeting, as soon as possible, with the representatives of non-governmental sector who are interested in cooperation, in order to assess the real possibilities and interests for implementation of this initiative.
Access to library materials and electronic databases has been agreed for representatives of all non-academic partners at the national level who will participate in the implementation of ENEMLOS. At the suggestion of the Bar Chamber, an agreement was reached to allow access to this valuable source of legally relevant material to all attorneys, besides those who will participate in the project implementation; regarding this a special Memorandum of Cooperation between the two institutions should be prepared.
