The German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ) has been supporting more than 30 partner states in reforming their legal and judicial systems on behalf of the German Federal Government since 1992. In the early years, the foundation's work was mainly carried out within the framework of the German government's TRANSFORM advisory program. Today, the IRZ receives funding primarily from the Federal Ministry of Justice; it also receives additional project funding from the Federal Foreign Office and the DAAD, among others, and carries out numerous EU Twinning and other EU-funded programs.

The IRZ promotes the implementation of reform laws in the partner states in particular through the training and further education of lawyers in all functions, academics and young lawyers, for example in seminars and symposia on site, as well as through work stays, internships and work shadowing in Germany, including with a focus on German and European law, comparative law and the cross-border exchange of experience.

Initially, the IRZ concentrated its work on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union and the partner states of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. New partner states for the IRZ have been added in Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.