By JODI SOKOLOWSKI
Buffalo Law Journal

Buffalo solo practitioners Joan Warren and Robyn Pharr both practice family law in Erie County, but recently had the opportunity to see how it's practiced in Cuba.

The differences between the two countries' systems, they said, were striking.

"I think they were trying to show us that there's a legal system and that their system is similar to ours, but there doesn't seem to be a sense of fairness or justice (in Cuba)," Warren said.

Granted professional visas, Warren and Pharr joined about a dozen U.S. judges and lawyers in a weeklong working trip to Cuba. Few Americans have been allowed to visit the Communist island nation since the U.S. government first imposed a trade embargo and travel ban in the early 1960s.

On their late-June trip they met with Cuban judges, lawyers, social workers and government officials to learn about the country's legal system and to see the effects of the blockade. One highlight was meeting Mariella Castro, daughter of current President Raul Castro and niece of former President Fidel Castro, who is headmaster of a school that teaches sexual education.

Organizer Harold "Hal" Mayerson, a partner at Manhattan law firm Mayerson Stutman Abramowitz & Royer LLP, said he doesn't find the Cuban legal system to be "much different than ours," though he did note it's much less structured than the U.S. system.

Fluent in Spanish from a stint with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s, he first went to Cuba in the '70s as a Congressional aide, leading a student group. After becoming a lawyer, Mayerson would regularly take colleagues there, through bar associations and lawyer groups.

"Cuba is a very interesting place for anyone interested in seeing how another country deals with legal issues and problems presented to families," Pharr said.

Clear differences

While a majority of the Cuban population doesn't legally get married, Warren said, couples are officially recognized and can get divorced - even without having ever been married.

If a divorcing couple agrees on all terms, it can go to a "notario" to split assets and arrange for child support. However, the division of assets is rarely necessary, Pharr said, because most citizens own few belongings and have very little cash.

"In the end, they have almost nothing to distribute, so I don't know why they would bother," she said.

And because there's a housing shortage, many divorced couples continue to reside with one another and their extended family, she added.

A designated neighborhood ombudsman settles disputes and maintains an air of order. Warren said a domestic-violence victim could go to the ombudsman, who might tell the attacker to stop - which works fairly well, she said, but the victim must still reside with the aggressor.

"They say you can get divorced, but (often) you still live with someone who is physically violent," Warren said.

The Americans learned that there are no rules of evidence nor burden of proof in Cuba, and that majority rules on panels of one trained judge and two lay judges.

"Potentially, there could be two nonattorneys making decisions, which to us is appalling," Pharr said.

Also, if judges feel they don't have enough information to make a decision, they can go out in the community and investigate cases themselves.rThat system, in a society with a lack of resources, seems to be "the only way they're going to be successful," she said.

The people

Although the Cubans' hospitality was gracious, it couldn't disguise widespread poverty, Warren and Pharr said.

They noted dilapidated housing, many beggars and a lack of goods - particularly vegetables - for sale.

"I lost three pounds. It was better than a Weight Watchers diet," Warren said.

Pharr said she strongly believes the group was shown the best neighborhoods and directed to meet the better-educated citizens.

Warren said she has great empathy for Cubans because of the poverty and evidence of apparent propaganda she witnessed.

"I got the overall feeling that they're very much brainwashed and don't really know what opportunities they have," she said. "I really learned to appreciate what we have here and the freedom to go places and do things."

A call for policy change

Mayerson expressed hopes that the Americans who participated in the trip "come back and share their knowledge of what's going on there and think about trying to do something to change our policy." If the travel ban and embargo are lifted, he said, Cuba could immediately benefit from tourism and trade.

"I don't think Cuba, whether it's a socialist or communist nation, is a threat to the United States," he said. "If we let Americans travel down there, for better or for worse, in three to five years Cuba would be transformed."

While both Warren and Pharr said they are unlikely to return to Cuba, they highly recommend that other U.S. lawyers and judges, and other permitted professionals, visit the country.

"They have to go expecting to work hard and absorb a lot in a short time," Pharr said. "We only chipped at the tip of the iceberg to learn about the entire legal system."