Having an effective legal system is one of the pillars of development as this will enable citizens seek and find justice given the trust and confidence practitioners in the justice sector win from the public. However, this does not come easily as it requires legal practitioners to demonstrate capacity to apply skills in a fair manner. To attain this, the government in 2008 initiated the Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILPD) in Nyanza district, Southern Province. This institute was established with the overall objective of providing practical skills to human resource playing a role in the Justice Sector. ILPD’s establishment was to ensure that Rwanda’s legal system meets international standards as far as service delivery is concerned. Under normal procedures, after university or higher institutions of learning, professionals in the justice sector must undergo professional practical training that builds their capacity to apply the theory attained. Brekmans Bahizi, the Vice Rector of Administration and Finance at ILPD says building the justice system requires building competence of how practitioners must conduct business in providing justice. ILPD trains lawyers, judges, prosecutors among other legal practitioners. The institute offers post graduate diploma in Legal Practice, diploma in Legislative Drafting and Continuous Legal Education (CLE’s)—which are short courses that focus on specific topics. This may be about new laws; and legal practitioners are trained on how to apply such a new law. This can be done on request, but there is also a program that is aimed at addressing the skills gap whenever need be. ILPD is also engaged in organizing and hosting local, regional and international conferences on legal matters. “Unlike in the universities where practitioners basically focus on theoretical approach, we focus on building competence on how these people can apply the principals of law; this has built confidence among our lawyers, prosecutors, advocates and Judges among other practitioners in the system,” he says. There was also the momentum to establish the institute since the country had just joined the Eats African Community; therefore, this was to harmonize the legal system with other member states. ILPD has a vision of becoming a centre of legal excellence in the region. This will be attained due to the steps being undertaken to build the institute in terms of what is offered. Unlike in other East African member states where the common law tradition is practiced, the practice in Rwanda is unique in that both the common and civil law are practiced. This positions ILPD in a far better position to achieving its mission. This initiative is widely expected to easily promote standards of the legal system in this country. The whole practical training basically rotates around enabling practitioners to conduct their duties the best way they can. This involves giving trainees skills that will see practitioners applying laws the right way they can. It also considers conducting self or applying the law without fear of favor but in a sense of searching for justices. Since the establishment of this institute, over 500 practitioners have undergone training in Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. This is the key course. At least 80 government lawyers drawn from different public institutions have undergone a diploma course in legislative drafting. This is to build capacity and bridge the skills gap in drafting laws. It addresses the challenge of drafting quality laws and other statutory regulations. ILPD is not only serving to improve Rwanda’s justice sector, but the region based on the number of student from our neighbors coming for studies.