An Uncomfortable Truth About Global Access to Justice—at 19,000 Feet Above Sea Level

Standing 19,341 feet above sea level, Mount Kilimanjaro is both the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single free-standing mountain above sea level on Earth.

A few years ago, I traveled to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. When I did, I was required to have a licensed guide for the climb because it is illegal to climb Mount Kilimanjaro without one. This makes sense. Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is dangerous, with estimates suggesting that roughly a dozen people die climbing the mountain each year, and 1,000 more require medical attention or to be rescued during their climbs.

However, while guides are there for climbers’ safety, and are required to be there by the Tanzania government, that same government does not have workers’ compensation laws to protect those guides when they are injured while working. If they are injured “on the job”—that is, while assisting tourists on a potentially fatal climb to 19,000+ feet above sea level—they are not entitled to disability benefits or payment of their medical expenses.

When my guide told me that, I was shocked. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been.

A harsh lesson about legal systems around the globe

Besides practicing workers’ compensation law and serving as my law firm’s chief revenue officer, I am a geography nerd who has been fortunate to have traveled extensively throughout my life. I’ve traveled to 46 U.S. states, but my travels to 100 countries have profoundly affected how I view this country’s legal system.

Though often difficult for Americans to navigate without the help of legal counsel, we should all be thankful to live in a country with a legal system as structured and effective as the U.S. legal system, with judges as competent and respectful of the rule of law as the ones we have presiding in courtrooms from coast to coast, and attorneys who are as zealous in their representation of their clients as American attorneys are. But we should also understand that as good as we have it in the U.S., there are millions—if not billions—of humans on this planet who lack access to a functioning legal system and legal relief when they have been wronged.

My travels to places like Mount Kilimanjaro throughout my life, and the lessons I’ve learned about how various countries’ legal systems operate when I’ve visited them, have caused me to reflect on how different the rule of law is across the world, and how difficult it can be for people across the world to have access to legal systems or legal counsel who can vindicate their rights.

Tort law varies from country to country, but at a basic level, Western countries tend to have legal systems rooted in common law, which usually have robust tort law protections. In contrast, most developing countries do not, and their legal systems are based mainly on secular customs or religious law. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa, sacred traditional rules form parts of the legal system, including the distinction between permissible and prohibited conduct. For many people in developing countries, there is no ability to bring claims in a court of law, and no one to advocate for their legal rights.

Thus, the rights and freedoms of society’s most vulnerable often go unprotected, as they have no recourse to hold wrongdoers accountable. This situation is prevalent in many African countries in particular, where foreign companies hire local workers and pay them miniscule wages to work dangerous jobs—all while taking advantage of the countries’ lack of workers’ compensation protections and other employment-related legal protections.

Without the rule of law, corruption and bribery flourish

Without the rule of law in their countries, millions of people live in poverty or substandard conditions, and do not have opportunities to create better lives for themselves and their loved ones. This is often because of pervasive corruption in their countries, with bribery being the most common form.

When Congress passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) in 1977, which prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from bribing foreign government officials, it did not do so because bribery was a theoretical ill. Instead, it was a realization that in many countries where American citizens and entities were doing business, there was an expectation in those countries that bribing government officials was the only way to secure the approvals, licenses, permits, and permission from those officials needed to conduct business. Indeed, disclosures of bribes paid by blue chip companies like Gulf Oil, Lockheed, Mobile, and Northrop created headlines in the years leading to the FCPA.

On multiple occasions during my travels, I have spoken with local and foreign businesspeople who have invested in a country or region and have told me how difficult it is to do business there because of the implicit requirement to bribe government officials in order to get a project off the ground. Of course, without the rule of law, even when a business signs a contract with a government entity or private organization, there is no recourse if either breaches the contract or is in default. There may be no objective venue, if there is one at all, for the business to go to seek redress for its claims, and legal counsel will be ineffective because there is simply no way to fight back and hold a wrongdoer accountable.

When a country’s rule of law does not prevent, or hold wrongdoers accountable for, corruption and bribery, it will face several economic consequences. An International Monetary Fund report discussed many of these consequences.

For example, corruption may lower foreign investment and stymie economic growth by disincentivizing corporations and other organizations from investing in new projects in those countries. It may reduce foreign aid because donor countries do not want their aid to be diverted to wasteful government spending. Corruption can also lead to the loss of tax revenue when it involves tax evasion. It can further lead to lower quality public services and infrastructure when government officials choose winning bidders based on the size of their bribes and not on the merits of their abilities.

A commitment to create change

Countries operating without the rule of law, or a country’s citizens not having access to competent, aggressive legal counsel, are not “foreign problems.” You need not walk around only countries in Africa or South America to find people who envy the legal protections and quality of legal representation Americans enjoy.

While I knew people in remote areas of the world would lack adequate legal protections and representation, I did not appreciate how many citizens of U.S. territories, like Guam and Puerto Rico, or areas with some affiliation with the U.S., such as the Marshall Islands, did not understand what their legal rights were or how to find competent legal counsel. This is despite the fact that, as citizens of these territories and areas made clear when I chatted with them, they were struggling with the same kinds of legal issues, especially personal injury issues, that Americans living in the 50 states struggle with.

Having become conscious of how difficult it is for people around the globe to vindicate their rights, whether that’s because their legal systems are ineffective, they do not have access to competent counsel, or they do not know they need counsel in the first place, I have committed myself to helping those with legal needs beyond the continental United States. For example, I have traveled to the United Kingdom to cultivate relationships with law firms and legal services organizations to help more clients globally with their legal issues. In addition, I am working with law firms in Canada to expand their ability to help Canadians in need of legal assistance. Finally, I am regularly in contact with law firms and legal services organizations around the world to discuss how we can improve the access people around the globe have to justice.

As a lawyer who represents individuals who have been injured or disabled at work or in an accident, it has been humbling to see how difficult it is for people around the world to vindicate their rights and hold wrongdoers accountable for their actions. I am thankful to have been born in the U.S. and to practice law within its borders.

But my gratitude has fueled my desire to help people across the world learn more about, and protect, their legal rights. If you are as inspired by the plight of these people as I am, please contact me. I would be happy to talk to you more about the organizations attempting to fight this good fight.