Arben Limani
Atifete Jahjaga
Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga spoke to a packed room of Chicago attorneys and business leaders at McGuireWoods LLP this morning on bolstering U.S. trade and investment in the newly independent state, founded in 2008. Jahjaga said years of war in the former Yugoslavia essentially destroyed the nation’s judiciary system, but it has since been rebuilt with help from the U.S. — Visar Kryeziu / Office of the President of Kosovo
As Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga made her way around Chicago on Thursday, her delegation included a familiar face for folks at McGuireWoods LLP’s office.
During the summer of 2011, Arben Limani interned at the firm — the same year he was earned a master’s degree at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.
The Kosovo native came to the Windy City on a scholarship program to learn the ins and outs of American financial services law in the hopes of relaying that information back to his home country.
Limani’s ties to McGuireWoods led to the firm hosting a business conference Thursday featuring the president of Kosovo and other government officials.
“When you work with companies such as McGuireWoods, then you really understand the core of doing business,” Limani said.
In interviews with the Daily Law Bulletin, both Jahjaga and Limani explained how far the nascent state has come in its seven years of statehood — and the challenges of building a fair, stable judiciary after decades of conflict.
Limani now serves as director of the Executive Secretariat of the Board of Directors of the Privatization Agency of Kosovo, a government agency in charge of managing the remaining state-owned assets that are left from the decades under the rule of the former communist Yugoslavia.
The event, “Global Opportunities With Kosovo’s President H.E. Atifete Jahjaga,” was presented by the America-Israel Economic Forum, the Government of Israel’s Economic Mission to the Midwest, the Albanian American Women’s Association, Albanian American Association of Intellectuals, Businessmen and Activists and America-Israel Chamber of Commerce Chicago. Other speakers at the event highlighted business opportunities between Illinois and Israel.
During their remarks, Jahjaga, Limani and other Kosovar officials touted the number of economic and legal reforms that have occurred in the country since it unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
Serbia doesn’t recognize Kosovar sovereignty, but 108 nations do, including the U.S., the United Kingdom and France.
The challenges were described as being both physical and cultural ones.
Following the 16-month war in 1998 and 1999 between NATO-backed ethnic Albanian separatist groups in Kosovo and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia — then comprising Serbia and Montenegro — Kosovo’s judiciary system was “mainly destroyed,” Jahjaga said.
She also cited a need for the government to develop its ability to combat organized crime and corruption.
“These are the few that we need more experience and expertise, how to tackle this phenomenon, how to prosecute them and how to build a good case, particularly on the corruption and the organized crime,” Jahjaga said, describing these issues as affecting both the quality of law and rule of law in Kosovo.
Additionally, Limani noted a cultural divide between older and younger Kosovar legal professionals.
Older lawyers and judges were often educated in the old communist Yugoslavian system where there was little concept of private business, he said. This created a cultural class with younger legal professionals who were educated in the West, Limani said.
“In that sense, you do not get a lot of entrepreneurship spirit,” he said. “Older lawyers in Balkan and ex-socialist countries tend to think like politicians, public administrators and high officials more than enablers, facilitators, advisers to businesses. That’s what you learn here.”
Limani’s internship at McGuireWoods was the finale of his nearly yearlong stay in the United States, organized by a scholarship through the Kosovo American Education Fund.
In his official capacity, Limani provides legal and advisory support to the board of directors that oversees an agency that facilitates the acquisition of state-owned assets — like mining facilities — by potential investors.
But Limani also said that he tries to bridge legal perspectives between the two countries.
Limani said he helped coordinate a visit by the chairman of the Kosovo Chamber of Advocates — the Kosovar equivalent to the American Bar Association — and McGuireWoods attorneys during a trip to the U.S.
After returning from that trip, the chairman was glad to receive multiple e-mails from McGuireWoods attorneys offering training materials for attorneys and offers to visit Kosovo and give lectures pro bono.
Limani added that Kosovo is eager to get pointers from anyone willing to share.
“My goal is not only (to) get McGuireWoods … but anyone who can help us grow the economy and increase stabilization and security in the Balkans, we’re more than welcome to work with (them),” he said.
Jahjaga indicated she had a similar message for legal professionals in Chicago, calling on them to network and engage with Kosovo.
She said she looks forward to “sharing the experience and sharing the expertises and to increase the network of the legal system of Kosovo with Chicago.”