Named president-elect of the American Bar Association in August 2006, Neukom said he has made the project's launch a priority for the organization. After serving as chief legal officer at Microsoft for nearly two decades, he returned to his former law firm, Seattle-based Preston, Gates and Ellis.
Rule of law means a system that includes accessibility, transparency, accountability, rules-based self-government and independent lawyers and judges, Neukom said, and is a prerequisite for equality and opportunity.
"Only good things can happen with the rule of law and a lot of bad things happen without that fundamental foundation."
Neukom said lawlessness is the main culprit behind what he described as "the horrors of the human condition": violence, terrorism, genocide, abject poverty, abundant corruption, sickness, and ignorance.
Although serious planning for the project only began in the last six years, Neukom said the concept has always been in the back of his mind.
"You can't be a lawyer for 40 years, even for this amazing enterprise called Microsoft, and you can't be in the business of representing people without realizing that the world is not fair," he said.
The project includes five programs. The first is involved with bringing representatives of non-legal disciplines, like religion, journalism, education, the military, public safety, engineering and architecture, into discussion of the rule of law. In the next sixth months, Neukom said he plans to hold five meetings around the world to bring leaders from various fields together.
A second component of the project will be a Rule of Law Index, where trained experts will go into the field and rate countries' progress on the rule of law using a computer programming-based approach.
Neukom said that the index is not meant to reprimand nations for their shortcomings but rather to raise awareness and inspire change.
"This is not a blame and shame tool," he said. "We can't be pointing fingers at them and at the same time, be their trusted counselors in terms of building their constitutional systems of government."
The third aspect of the initiative involves the sponsoring of academic research on the topic, which will involve going to state and local bar associations and clarifying the definition of the rule of law, focusing on consistency and strength.
Finally, Neukom said the first phase of the project will culminate in an international forum to review findings.
"The culminating event during just the two years is what we're calling the World Justice Forum," he said. "The naming is quite intentional if you believe our premise. We hope it will displace Davos as being the single most influential, international multidimensional meeting of smart people because economics is a derivation of justice."
Neukom said that while speaking with donors and other contributors to the project, one theme has been continually stressed -- multilateralism. He noted that many individuals are wary of U.S. unilateralism and want to ensure the project is not seen as an extension of the U.S. government.He hopes to accomplish this by having the project's honorary list of co-chairs, which includes former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, to also include prominent names from around the world.
Neukom said the project has already pulled in about half of its fundraising goal of $7 million, thanks in part to the Gates Foundation, which has so far made the largest donation of $1.7 million.
