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Partners of the Americas
By Tom Tinder
For more than 30 years, the State of West Virginia has participated in the international Partners of the Americas Program. States in our country have formal partnership arrangements with states in South America to undertake exchange programs on cultural, educational, governmental and economic matters.
West Virginia’s partnership is with Espirito Santo, a state of approximately two and a half million persons located along the coast of Brazil. Over the years, citizens from Espirito Santo have visited West Virginia cities regarding education matters, for cultural activities and for governmental interaction.
About four years ago, the State Bar participated in the first exchange program in the judicial/legal field. A State Supreme Court Justice and a State Circuit Court Judge from Espirito Santo spent several days in West Virginia learning about our legal and judicial systems. In addition, our State Bar leaders and Judiciary officials received valuable information about various aspects of the legal/judicial system in Espirito Santo. Highlights of their visit included opportunities to discuss issues with members of our Judiciary and participation in a meeting of the State Bar’s Long Range Planning Committee.
Then, last fall, the Brazilian Circuit Court Judge, Tasso Lugon, made another trip to West Virginia. Again, there were non-stop activities that included making plans for a group of West Virginians to go to Espirito Santo in February of this year. The group would consist of members of the Judiciary, the legal profession and the education community. Judge Tasso told us that there would be a statewide conference on legal issues and that we would be given legal topics on which to make formal presentations.
Over the next several months, our group met to put together our remarks on legal topics as well as to be educated about Brazilian history, traditions and customs. Our group consisted of a Supreme Court Justice, a Circuit Court Judge, a Magistrate Court Judge, a Past State Bar President and approximately 15 students and faculty members from the University of Charleston.
The highlight of our visit was the statewide Judicial Conference that was held in Victoria, the capital of Espirito Santo. The speakers included judges, lawyers and professors from both Espirito Santo and other parts of the country, and featured the Secretary of the Department of Justice. The Governor was present at the opening ceremonies where mementoes were exchanged and he received the official West Virginia State Bar seal.
West Virginia’s delegation made presentations that were well received including remarks on West Virginia’s Constitution, laws, judicial system and legal system, a presentation on bioethics/genetics, an overview of our innovative video conference system in the courts, and observations on alternate dispute resolution techniques and mediation. I also talked about mediation programs in our state as well as environmental law. (I was way more than 50 miles from home, so I was definitely an "expert"!) I even got my wife, Rebecca, to inform the participants about West Virginia’s Family Law Mediation Program.
Interestingly, the language spoken in Brazil is Portuguese; whereas, all of the other South American countries speak Spanish. All of us had to use headphones, like the United Nations, in order to receive instant translation in either Portuguese or English.
Besides the conference, there were other educational activities. We had a beneficial trip to the Espirito Santo judicial building where the State Supreme Court hears arguments. There are twenty-one Justices on the Supreme Court - can you imagine being questioned by twenty-one Justices during your oral argument?!
By the way, I spent an extensive amount of time talking with Omar, the Executive Director of the Bar Association for Espirito Santo. There are approximately 11,000 persons with law degrees in Espirito Santo, but only about 3,000 of them are involved in the active practice of law. The remaining 8,000 lawyers have not taken or passed the bar examination - they want to have a law degree which helps them with other employment opportunities.
We had a heartwarming visit to Santa Teresa, a small town in the mountains of Espirito Santo where the local school band of about 20 students - and a few additional townspeople - played the National Anthems of the United States and Brazil in a most spirited fashion. Each of us had brought t-shirts to provide to the needy children in the area - more that200 Brazilian kids are proudly wearing American t-shirts. We also had intriguing conversations with the local Prosecuting Attorney and Public Defender - there were many similarities and some differences in comparing their work with the responsibilities of those officials in our smaller communities here in West Virginia.
The Partners of the Americas Program is a perfect example of how everyone can benefit from exposure to people with different cultures, different customs and different countries. We all have similar dreams and desires. Judges are judges, lawyers are lawyers and people are people in Espirito Santo and in West Virginia.
Get some information about the Partners in the Americas Program in your state. Your participation in it will certainly be an outstanding life experience!
(The picture at the top of the page shows the dangerous piranha fish that I caught during the exchange trip to Brazil.)