Ciudadanos al Día
To address corruption and poor regulatory enforcement in the private sector, CAD worked with Peruvian corporations to develop and sign rule of law pledges. The pledges were complemented by a series of ethics trainings that outlined standards for ethics and compliance, particularly in regards to recruiting for legal services.
Challenge
Peru suffers from both weak institutions and low rule of law enforcement. Corruption in the legal system and a low demand for the rule of law have led to a market failure for ethical behavior and rule of law compliance among the actors with a stake in implementing the rule of law. Corruption and the lack of rule of law enforcement have also limited the development of the private sector.
Program Summary
To address the lack of law enforcement and ethical behavior in Peru, Ciudadanos al Día (CAD) targeted lawyers and private companies whom hire lawyers to sign a Rule of Law Pledge. The objective of the Pledge was to strengthen the capacity of corporations and the lawyers they work with, both in-house and externally, to demand, monitor and promote compliance to high professional responsibility standards. To ensure compliance, CAD implemented the Pledge in such a way that it created competition among lawyers and law firms. Because private companies contract law firms for legal services, these firms thus compete amongst each other to remain attractive to private companies. Private companies, then, have the power to affirm that they will only contract lawyers and law firms who subscribe to ethical rules and standards by signing the Rule of Law Pledge. In doing so, CAD aims to alter the incentives of lawyers such that change and compliance to the Rule of Law Pledge becomes in their best interest and a self-regulating system is established through private enforcement.
Impact
As a result of the project, more than 20 of the top corporations and law firms in the country signed the Rule of Law Pledge. In addition, a demand for ethics training was created and new case-based ethics teaching materials were produced.
Partners
The Ciudadanos al Día (CAD) was the lead partner, working with numerous corporations and their legal representatives in Peru.