News & Events

Head of Simpson Thacher’s Latin America Practice Todd Crider co-authored a brief note for the Lawyers Council for Civil and Economic Rights of the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice titled, “Judicial Independence and Economic Development: Responsibility of the Legal Community” (original Spanish text: Independencia judicial y desarrollo económico, responsabilidad de la comunidad jurídica). The article examined how a robust rule of law tradition can underpin the economic development of a country and how the independence of judges is essential to building that environment, particularly in Guatemala, where the independence and increasing threats to the physical safety of judges has been an ongoing challenge. The article has been published by the Asociacion Guatemalteca de Jueces por la Integridad (Guatemalan Association of Judges for Integrity).

The Vance Center advances global justice by engaging lawyers across borders to support civil society and an ethically active legal profession. Todd currently serves as an executive committee member and was the founding chair of the Center. The Lawyers Council for Civil and Economic Rights, of which Todd was also a founder, brings together 16 leading lawyers from 14 countries in Latin America and the U.S. to engage proactively on sustained strategies to address issues of injustice that are common across regional jurisdictional lines.

To read the full article in Spanish, please click here.