9 The Independent Lawyers’ Association of Myanmar as a Legal Transplant: Local Challenges to the Idea of an Independent National Bar Association Jonathan Liljeblad I INTRODUCTION The Independent Lawyers’ Association of Myanmar (ILAM) was an outcome of a three-year programme by the International Bar Association (IBA) through its IBA Human Rights Initiative (hereafter IBAHRI). Lasting from 2014 to 2016, the IBAHRI programme in Myanmar sought to promote the idea of an independent legal profession, with ILAM being an attempt to provide an independent national bar association for Myanmar. 1 The IBAHRI sought to be an inclusive initiative encompassing state and non-state Myanmar legal actors, but it also provided international experts to engage Myanmar legal actors with alternative perspectives regarding the legal profession and the rule of law. 2 The IBAHRI programme in Myanmar falls within a framework of legal transplant theory, since the work of the IBAHRI essentially served to introduce IBA conceptions about an independent national bar association into a domestic Myanmar context. 3 As a result, the IBAHRI and ILAM 1 International Bar Association, ‘Myanmar, Capacity-Building 2014-2016’ (International Bar Association 2015b) www.ibanet.org/Article/NewDetail.aspx?ArticleUid=B0DFF549-F0F3-4A90 -83D5-40B902FEDBF9 accessed 8 April 2018. 2 International Bar Association, ‘Myanmar Lawyers Advance in Mission to Build a Representative National Bar Association’ (International Bar Association 2014c) www.ibanet.org/Article/NewDe tail.aspx?ArticleUid=2efce9cc-5ef9-4dde-86e4-024648d54b93; S. Lwin, ‘Lawyers Vow Greater Independence for New Bar Association’, Myanmar Times, 18 January, 2016 (2016), available at: www.mmtimes.com/national-news/nay-pyi-taw/18513-lawyers-vow-greater-independence-for-ne w-bar-association.html; S. Lwin and P. T. Phyo, ‘Independent Bar Association Aims to Usher in New Era’, Myanmar Times, 21 January, 2016 (2016), available at: www.mmtimes.com/national- news/mandalay-upper-myanmar/18578-independent-bar-association-aims-to-usher-in-new-era .html). 3 M. Crouch, ‘The Layers of Legal Development in Myanmar’ in M. Crouch and T. Lindsey (eds.), Law, Society and Transition in Myanmar (Hart Publishing, 2014); International Bar Association, ‘The Rule of Law in Myanmar: Challenges and Prospects’ (International Bar 211 Breda, V. (Ed.). (2019). Legal transplants in east asia and oceania. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com Created from anu on 2019-10-08 22:04:09. Copyright © 2019. Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.