Washington, DC - Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) William R. Brownfield signed a partnership agreement today with the Louisiana Supreme Court marking the first such Department of State partnership with a state-level Supreme Court. This agreement will pave the way for the State Department to leverage the expertise of the nation’s only state court system that relies on civil law to adjudicate non-criminal disputes.

Through this partnership, INL will utilize the knowledge and experience of the Louisiana judiciary in training, advising, and mentoring foreign judicial sector personnel. Louisiana jurists have a unique understanding of how civil law jurisdictions operate and have experience collaborating with common law systems, attributes which will be particularly beneficial to INL and the international foreign judicial community.

INL has established relationships with state and local law enforcement, corrections, judicial, and other justice sector institutions to access criminal justice expertise. Each state and local partner receives specialized training from the State Department, and develops key relationships overseas which can benefit their work in their own communities. Details can be found at http://www.state.gov/j/inl/civ/index.htm.