13. Legal Advice in Crisis Training for Government Lawyers: Perspectives from the United States and Sweden

Abstract

This chapter describes a pioneering effort: an academic-practitioner partnership between the Office of Chief Counsel of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and a multidisciplinary team of university-based experts to develop usable, trainable knowledge and skills designed to improve the ability and performance of government lawyers under highly challenging conditions. The methodology and results—training designs and good practice models—of the FEMA Legal Advice in Crisis project are summarized. Furthermore, the chapter addresses the question of whether challenges and good practices for crisis lawyering identified through empirical research focusing on US government leaders and lawyers are unique to the United States or whether they also apply to a significant extent to other highly developed countries as well such as Sweden. The results of an ongoing parallel initiative linking the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), the Swedish Defense University, and a growing network of government lawyers serving both Swedish central government agencies and county boards demonstrate the potential relevance of “localized” versions of the Legal Advice in Crisis framework and instructional design in non-US settings as well.