The American Bar Association launches the Central and Eastern European Law Initiative (ABA CEELI). As part of this initiative, more than 5,000 judges, attorneys, law professors, and legal specialists provided pro bono assistance to promote the rule of law in the region.

The CEELI Institute is formally established at the Villa Grébovka in Prague as an independent non-profit organization. ABA CEELI continues independently and evolves into the ABA Rule of Law Initiative. The renovation of the Villa required substantial funding, starting with a generous grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

On June 8th, the former Czech President Vaclav Havel and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor join CEELI Institute Founder Homer Moyer to publicly dedicate the Villa Grébovka as the headquarters of the CEELI Institute which continues today.

The CEELI Institute helps establish the Conference of Chief Justices of Central and Eastern Europe, which annually brings together the senior judges from the region’s highest courts to share and develop strategies and best practices to promote judicial integrity and accountability, to improve court management, and to combat corruption in the courts.

The Network facilitates career growth and development for the judges, fosters peer engagement, and produces concrete tools to better assist the judges in performing their duties.

The CEELI Institute launches its now marquee training designed and delivered by the world’s experts on investigating and prosecuting official corruption.

The Institute partners with the Tunisian judiciary to train nearly all Tunisian judges, focusing on judging in a democratic society. This program brings together judges from all ranks and courts in Tunisia at regular workshops designed to improve professional skills and to build the public’s confidence in the judiciary.

The Institute begins supporting human rights lawyers in Myanmar, in partnership with the Burma Center Prague.

The Institute starts providing respite, fellowship, and sabbatical opportunities in Prague for human rights lawyers, journalists, and civil society working under stressful and challenging conditions in repressive environments.

Our work expands to India with a new partnership with the Indian National Judicial Academy and the U.S. Federal Judicial Center to promote exchanges between U.S. and Indian judges.

The Institute begins cooperating with anti-corruption watchdogs and launches anti-corruption training combining law enforcement with watchdogs, encouraging cooperation on corruption investigations.

The Institute starts a series of legal education programs for judges from Central and Eastern European Union member states on relevant EU instruments and directives governing the application of both civil and criminal law.

Amid the pandemic, the Institute launches CEELI Online, its one-stop hub for specialized, remotely accessible courses and dialogues for legal, judicial, and civil society professionals. Through this platform, CEELI offers integrated courses on a wide range of timely and relevant topics.

The African Judicial Exchange Network (AJN) is established, with an initial group of six countries. The AJN comprises judges from anglophone African countries who regularly gather to share knowledge and experience on issues such as judicial independence, anti-corruption, transparency, accountability, efficiency, and ethics.

Very soon after Russia’s war broke out in Ukraine, the Institute rapidly fundraised over $200,000 in private donations to provide humanitarian support to Ukrainian refugees in Prague. As the war carried on, we launched a Summer School for Ukrainian law students on legal skills needed during wartime that we have continued through 2023.  

The CEELI Institute expands our training offer and support to Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies, investigators, and prosecutors to address wartime risks and in anticipation of reconstruction.