This project was awarded by DG Justice to a consortium composed of two organisations of lawyers working at EU level, namely the European Lawyers Foundation (ELF) and the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE).

The two organisations bring together an ability to reach out to lawyers through national and local Bars and Law Societies in all Member States and to engage both lawyers and Bars and Law Societies satisfactorily in order to ensure their collaboration to achieve the results of the tasks which are the subject of the contract.

The organisation coordinating the action (ELF) has been involved in the training of lawyers since its establishment in 2014. Indeed, since then, ELF has been participating (as coordinator or as beneficiary) in many EU-funded projects on the direct training of lawyers in various areas of EU law such as data protection, immigration and asylum, violence against women, litigation before the EU courts or children’s rights. Further to these projects, ELF is engaged in other EU-funded projects such as the MULTILAW and LAWYEREX projects (where lawyers are sent to other Member States to learn about those Member States’ legal systems, create or consolidate networking capacities and improve their legal language skills) and it is implementing (together with the CCBE) a key project on training of lawyers regarding the recognition of training undertaken by lawyers in Member States other than the one where they are practising (REFOTRA).

The CCBE, as the only organisation that represents all lawyers in Europe through its member Bars and Law Societies, offers the guarantee of engagement by Bars and Law Societies and lawyers in the activities to be implemented in the context of this project. Further, both training and AML are fields where the CCBE has been working for many years. The CCBE has an AML Committee and a Training Committee where experts from various Member States meet regularly to discuss and decide on important policy issues on these areas at EU level. Although the tender refers mainly to training, the AML component of the tender is also required, as it is only by understanding both elements (training and AML) that the expected results will be logical, useful, and in line with the contract.