Recap: ABA ROLI’s 2019 Rule of Law Luncheon

Judge Margaret McKeown of the 9th Circuit (left) and Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella of the Supreme Court of Canada are seen having a wide-ranging discussion on the rule of law at the ABA ROLI luncheon. 

This year, ABA ROLI’s Rule of Law Luncheon acknowledged the 2019 ABA International Human Rights Award recipient and commemorated the life of one of ABA CEELI/ROLI’s co-founders. The event’s keynote conversation featured two prominent judges and discussed the changing global landscape for the rule of law. Over 100 attendees joined ABA ROLI for this annual event, which took place as part of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA.

To celebrate the life of ABA CEELI/ROLI co-founder and former ABA President (1991-1992), Talbot (“Sandy”) D’Alemberte, who passed away in May 2019, ABA ROLI premiered a video at the Luncheon about his lifelong contributions to the legal profession and the ABA. Sandy was a leading advocate for human and civil rights around the world, a pioneer of dispute resolution, a constitutional expert, and a champion of open government. In 1990 after the fall of the Berlin wall, D’Alemberte worked alongside Homer Moyer to create “CEELI” (the Central European and Eurasian Law Institute), a program to help in the development of constitutions, laws and institutional improvements in the Central and Eastern European region. In 2007, the program expanded to include all regions of the world and is now called the ABA’s Rule of Law Initiative, which currently promotes justice, economic opportunity and human dignity through the rule of law in 50 countries around the world.

Sandy’s commitment to justice remains a core value of ABA ROLI’s work. The video featured remarks from Alberto Mora, Director of ABA ROLI; and Mary Greer, Senior Technical Advisor of Criminal Law for ABA ROLI’s Research, Evaluation, and Learning Department. Newly-elected ABA President Judy Perry Martinez and dear friend to the late-Sandy, introduced the video presentation.

Like Sandy, Waleed Abu Al-Khair, an imprisoned Saudi human rights lawyer, has dedicated his life to the advancement of civil rights. During the Luncheon, Alberto Mora recognized Abu Al-Khair’s, the recipient of the 2019 ABA International Human Rights Award, for his contributions to the rule of law in Saudi Arabia. In 2008, Abu Al-Khair founded Monitor for Human Rights, one of only a few human rights organizations in Saudi Arabia. As an attorney, Abu Al-Khair dedicated his career to defending the right to freedom of expression, even after government authorities banned him in 2009 from representing specific defendants in courts. Abu Al-Khair was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to 15 years in prison for his human rights activism under an “anti-terrorism” law that was put in place by Saudi Arabia halfway through his trial. Waleed Abu Al-Khair remains imprisoned at the Dahban Central Prison in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

In addition to acknowledging two major contributors in the human rights field, ABA ROLI’s event also featured a keynote address between Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, Senior Judge on the Supreme Court of Canada; and then-Board Chair Judge Margaret McKeown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Their conversation explored the impact humanitarian work, the legal profession, and judiciaries have around the world.

During the discussion, Justice Abella shared her family’s extraordinary story and the influence it has had on her career path. Born in a displaced persons camp in Stuttgart, Germany in 1946, Rosalie Silberman Abella sought out to be a lawyer when her father was denied the opportunity after they sought refuge in Canada in 1950. Her father, Jakob Silberman, worked as a defence counsel for displaced persons in the Allied Zone of Southwest Germany. When they moved to Canada he could no longer hold the same profession due to his lack of Canadian citizenship.

In the 1989 case of Andrews v Law Society of British Columbia, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favor of Andrews, a British man, that he could practice law in Canada without being a citizen. The ruling was based upon Justice Abella’s definition of ‘equality’ from her 1984 federal Royal Commission on Equality in Employment. Because of her father’s denial from practicing law, this ruling was extremely meaningful to her, as her father passed away a month before she finished law school in 1970.

ABA ROLI would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the speakers, attendees, and those individuals and organizations whose generosity and support helped to make our Annual Rule of Law Luncheon possible! The sponsors of this year’s luncheon were the World Justice Project, the Florida Bar, the ABA’s Criminal Justice Section, and the Honorable Judge Judith Chirlin.

View photos from the event on Facebook here.