Membership of the Compact and Forum is open to:
- law societies, bar associations and similar collectives/professional societies of lawyers, with or without a regulatory role (“law societies”), that represent and/or lobby on behalf of their members at a national or international level;
- with the approval of the Board, law societies operating at a local level where such law society:
- has more than 1000 members or is more active than the relevant national law society in issues relating to the rule of law or access to justice; and
- is involved in initiatives for promoting, or for training and advocacy to lawyers in issues related to, SDG16.
provided that the law society, whether local, national or international:
- is willing to commit to the principles of the Compact;
- satisfies the due diligence processes set out in the Governance Rules; and
- acknowledges that it is familiar with the Compact and Forum’s ideals and objectives and recognizes that its name and emblem may not be associated with any political or sectarian cause or otherwise used in a manner inconsistent with the status, reputation and neutrality of the Compact and Forum and its founding Members.
Organisations wishing to join should contact the Secretariat for an application pack.
They will be asked to provide:
- a Letter of Endorsement signed by a senior Officeholder of the organisation, expressing its commitment to the Compact and to contribute to activities of the Compact and Forum
- information to satisfy the Forum’s due diligence and integrity vetting procedures to ensure it admits only those members whose commitment towards the overall goals will be beyond doubt;
- a completed questionnaire to establish baseline levels of adherence to international standards related to the rule of law and access to justice.
A Member must also:
- be legally constituted in its jurisdiction and provide copies of its constitutional documents to the Secretariat of the Compact and Forum on request;
- comply with the Conflict of Interest policy of the Compact and Forum;
- not act in a manner which is prejudicial to the aims or interests of the Compact and Forum.
Once the application has been accepted by the Board of the Compact and Forum, each member association will be asked to nominate a representative to take part in the activities of the Compact and Forum and may subsequently propose or be invited to take part in specific working groups.
There are no fees for membership but members are invited to contribute to the activities of the Compact and Forum in tangible ways such as:
- Participating in Compact and Forum conferences, working groups, workshops, training sessions or other activities
- Knowledge sharing by contributing existing knowledge products (e.g., studies, databases, training material, etc.);
- Engaging and funding studies/researches and publications;
- Providing facilities for workshops, conferences and/or training seminars;
- Providing financial contributions towards Compact and Forum activities.
- Mobilizing their own staff to assist the Compact and Forum Secretariat;