Next Generation Human Rights Lawyers

At Just Rights Europe, we believe that the experience gained through human rights litigation should be passed on to those who will carry it forward. We are developing several programmes to make that experience accessible to the next generation.

Our initiative grew out of a gap we have repeatedly encountered in practice: talented law graduates, including those with advanced degrees, often have limited opportunities to gain practical litigation experience. Universities and legal clinics provide essential foundations. Access to real cases, litigation strategy and the everyday work of defending human rights remains a challenge for many.

When we offered an observation internship, we received more than 800 CVs in just one week. That overwhelming response brought a fundamental problem into focus: after years of academic study, many graduates still struggle to find opportunities to gain the experience they need to enter the profession.

Our first programme, the Human Rights Education Project, is already under way. It brings together participants from across Europe, with one or two places per country, to compare legal systems, exchange perspectives and learn from real cases. This first group will also help build a European network for the future activities of the Human Rights Litigation Foundation.

Our next initiative, the University Project, will comprise two programmes:

• Chamber Litigation
• Grand Chamber Litigation Masterclass

Alongside this project, we are preparing further programmes to be organised both in collaboration with universities and directly through our practice.

These programmes draw on our extensive experience before the European Court of Human Rights, including its Grand Chamber. Participants will work on real cases, learning to prepare applications, contribute to third-party interventions through the Foundation, and assess and draft requests for referral to the Grand Chamber following Chamber judgments.

Learning will also draw on our experience in cases such as M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece, Bouyid v. Belgium and Lhermitte v. Belgium. Participants will examine the preparation and strategic choices behind these proceedings, critically analyse Chamber and Grand Chamber judgments, and consider their implications for future litigation. This includes examining whether the standards established by the Grand Chamber are maintained, developed or weakened in subsequent case-law.

A practical handbook has already been prepared, bringing together this experience to support the teaching and participants’ work. We will continue to build on these programmes through new cases, further initiatives and the experience gained along the way.

Our commitment to participants is clear: those who complete the programme will leave with real litigation experience they can demonstrate and put to work from day one.

Over six months or longer, depending on the programme, participants will develop that experience through practical work on real cases. They will be able to explain the work they have undertaken, the cases they have contributed to and the skills they have acquired. Our ambition is to open doors to employment by giving participants experience during their training and preparing them to contribute immediately in a professional setting.