Objectives

The objectives of the Association are:

 

1. To promote close relations, cooperation and mutual understanding amongst lawyers in the ASEAN countries

2. To provide the organisational framework for regional cooperation;

    1. in the study of and research in the laws of the ASEAN countries with a view to harmonizing those laws as required by the social and economic development of theASEAN region;
    2. in promoting and facilitating the co-ordination of activities and the carrying out of collaboration projects, among lawyers’ organisations, law faculties, legal research centres and other like institutions in the ASEAN countries;
    3. in promoting, exchanging and disseminating information of the laws, legal systems and legal development of the ASEAN countries;
    4.  for the purpose of carrying into effect the objectives hereinbefore set out, in the publication of journals, newsletters, bulletins and in the organising of conferences, meetings, symposia, seminars and other discussions;

3. To provide organisational facilities for ASEAN cooperation in conflict avoidance, in the arbitration or resolution of legal disputes in transnational contracts within the ASEAN region; and

4. To cooperate with international, regional, national and other organisations in the furtherance of the aforementioned objectives.

Structure

ALA has the following bodies:

 

I. General Assembly

The General Assembly consists of all ALA members. A regular session of the General Assembly is called once every 3 years.

 

II. Governing Council

The Governing Council is the governing body of ALA. It consists of 5 members from each ASEAN country appointed by the National Committee of that country with at least 4 members representing government lawyers, the judiciary, the bar and academia.

The Governing Council meets at least once every year.

 

 A National Committee is established in each ASEAN country consisting of not more than 10 members elected by ALA members with at least 8 members representing government lawyers, the judiciary, the bar and academia.

 

III. Secretariat

The Secretariat is the principal office of ALA.

History

The ASEAN Law Association had its origin in a conference, “Legal Development in ASEAN Countries”, hosted by the Indonesian Government in Jakarta in February 1979. The conference was attended by legal luminaries from the original five ASEAN countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

 

When Professor Tan Sook Yee and Senator Edgardo Angara proposed the creation of a regional organization for lawyers in the ASEAN region, the proposal was met with the unanimous acclaim of delegates at the Conference, who felt that ASEAN lawyers had a pivotal role to play in promoting greater ASEAN cooperation. Towards that end, it was resolved that the ASEAN Law Association (ALA) should be established. Thus, the ALA was established in the summer of 1979.

 

The ALA Constitution and By-laws were drafted by a working committee in May 1979, promulgated in Kuala Lumpur and adopted at the First General Assembly of the ALA held in Manila in November 1980 at the Philippine International Convention Centre in Manila. The First General Assembly also saw Senator Angara and Dr Teuku Mohammad Radhie elected as President and Secretary-General, respectively, of the ALA. The ALA Governing Council and the ALA Secretariat also convened for the first time.

Standing Committees

The ALA has established Standing Committees to make recommendations to the Governing Council on matters relevant to legal cooperation among ASEAN countries in their respective fields. Each Standing Committee is chaired by a different member country.

 

Standing Committee Chairing country
International Law Brunei Darussalam
Legal Profession Philippines
Business Law

  • Trade and Investment Group
 Malaysia

Singapore (Coordinator)
Legal Education Indonesia
Legal Information Singapore
Alternative Dispute Resolution Vietnam

 

Note: Following a decision of the ASEAN Chief Justices at the inaugural ASEAN Chief Justices Meeting in Singapore in 2013 to hold a meeting in conjunction with each ALA meeting, the Judicial Cooperation Standing Committee was dissolved in 2014.