Generous Gift to Handa Center Supports Rule of Law

The Handa Center is pleased to announce a generous gift to advance research on the rule of law at Stanford University. The gift from Desierto & Desierto Law support an annual Rule of Law Fellow and the Handa Center Annual Lecture on the Rule of Law. 

The inaugural Handa Center Annual Lecture on the Rule of Law was held on May 2, featuring Thomas Carothers, senior vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 

Carothers’ lecture, America's Travails with Democracy and the Rule of Law as a Mirror of Global Retreat, discussed the many troubling features of democracy and the rule of law in the United States today. He drew on his vast expertise in democracy to analyze what ways America’s democratic and legal challenges are one and the same with those of struggling democracies in other regions and in what ways are they unique. 

The lecture was made possible through the generous support of Desierto & Desierto Law, Ortigas Centre, Metro Manila, Philippines in honor of former constitutional Ombudsman of the Republic of the Philippines Honorable Aniano A. Desierto, whose defense of the rule of law spanned 40 years in public service as the country’s foremost prosecutor. 

This gift comes at a critical time, when the Handa Center is experiencing growth and new opportunities to deepen our engagement on the rule of law and accountability both on and off campus.  Building on the Handa Center’s existing work in this area, this gift positions the Center to be a key actor in guiding Stanford University’s growing commitment to international justice and rule of law. 

Photo: Supreme Court; Joe Ravi Wikimedia Commons license CC-BY-SA 3.0