Proyecto ACCESO at California Western School of Law works to promote the rule of law in the Americas. Utilizing multi-media and popular culture, ACCESO creates innovative, educational and entertaining programs that increase access to justice and build confidence in the legal mechanisms and institutions that provide better access to justice, foster sustainable development, and enshrine democratic governance.
The training wing of Proyecto ACCESO is called ACCESO Capacitación. For more than 15 years, we have trained lawyers, judges, prosecutors, public defenders and other members of the legal sector in skills like oral advocacy, DNA and other advanced evidence techniques. More information about our training programs can be found here
San Diego, California, February 2012, February 2011, February 2010, April 2009, and April 2008: ACCESO Capacitación joined with California Western School of Law’s Institute for Criminal Defense Advocacy to hold the 15th Annual Janeen Kerper Trial Skills Academy. During this five-day program, lawyers and judges from Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, and Perú were trained in advanced oral advocacy skills. Iquique, Chile – June 2010: Proyecto ACCESO, working with the U.S. Embassy in Chile, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, and the Policia de Investigaciones of Chile, produced a model workshop “IP for Kids”. Asunción, Paraguay, January - December 2009: Proyecto ACCESO was awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Justice to produce a fulllength documentary film for DVD and television broadcast about Intellectual Property piracy and the challenges it poses to public health and safety and cultural patrimony throughout Latin America. San Diego, California, April 2009: ACCESO’s documentary, Not In My Backyard, was broadcast on Channel 16 ITV (San Diego County Board of Education public television station). Oruro, Bolivia, July - August 2008: ACCESO Capacitación partners with European Union Aid Coordination Office, Fundación Iberoamericana de Acceso a la Justicia, Unión Iberoameriana de Colegios y Agrupaciones de Abogados, and the Ilustre Colegio Departamental de Abogados de Oruro (Oruro Bar Association) to execute “Social Defenders” program for 50 law graduates to engage in pro bono activity to free wrongfully imprisoned defendants. Santiago, Chile, July 2008: ACCESO Capacitación joined with the Public Defender’s Office in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago Sur to train public defenders on the use of DNA evidence in oral criminal trials. La Paz, Bolivia, February 2008: ACCESO Kids, working with Fundación IDEA, Fundación Arte y Culturas, and Viceministerio de Culturas de Bolivia, facilitated a human rights education workshop for La Paz shoeshiners (lustrabotas). San Diego, California, August 2007 and April 2009: ACCESO Vision’s Full Metal Justice is broadcast on Channel 16 ITV (San Diego County Board of Education public television station).
