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How to Get a Career in Human Rights
The Law Society and
Human Rights Lawyers Association
8 March 2010
Produced by the Law Society and the Human Rights Lawyers
Association
human rights lawyers association
With generous sponsorship from the Equality and Human Rights
Commission
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Index
Law Society of England and Wales……………………………………….……………4
Human Rights Lawyers Association……………………………………………….……5
Speaker Biographies…………………….………………………………7-39
Courtenay Barklem…………………………………………………..………………...... 7
Ian Brownlee………………………………………………………….………………...… 9
Monica Carss-Frisk QC……………………………………………………….……….… 11
Jonathan Cooper OBE……………………………………………………..……………. 12
Corinna Ferguson……………………………………………..……………………….… 13
Rosa Curling……………………………………………………………………………… 15
Malcolm Fowler…………………………………………………………..………………. 16
Alex Gask…………………………………………………………………………………. 17
Gemma Hobcraft…………………………………………………………………………. 18
Helen Law………………………………………………………………………………… 20
Rob Linham……………………………………………………………………………….. 22
Jesse Nicholls…………………………………………………………………………….. 25
Adam Sandell…………………………………………………………………………….. 28
Phil Shiner………………………………………………………………………………… 30
Ahila Sornarajah………………………………………………………………………….. 32
Martha Spurrier…………………………………………………………………………… 34
Katy Swaine………………………………………………………………………………. 36
Dr. Murray Wesson………………………………………………………………………. 38
Paul Yates………………………………………………………………………………… 39
List of Human Rights Organisations…………………….…………40-51
Organisers and thanks……………………………………………………52
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Human Rights and the Law Society
International Action Team
The Law Society's International Action Team (IAT) is a network of pro bono lawyers and law
students who assist with the Society’s human rights work.
The aim is to provide international human rights opportunities for all interested members of
the legal profession, regardless of your level of qualification or previous human rights
experience, if any.
There are 2 main ways to participate: interventions or working groups.
Interventions
The Law Society writes interventions to governments and responsible authorities:
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in support of lawyers whose human rights have been violated;
opposing restrictions on the freedom and independence of the legal profession;
challenging threats to the independence of the judiciary and the proper administration
of justice; and
opposing systemic or gross violations of the rule of law (such as Guantanamo
detentions and breaches of international legal standards in carrying out the death
penalty).
For examples of interventions, see http://international.lawsociety.org.uk/node/3806
Members of the IAT are involved in researching or drafting interventions. A dedicated group
of researchers (mostly students) monitors for violations, investigates them and alerts the
network. One volunteer (usually non-student) drafts a letter that will be signed by the
President of the Law Society on behalf of the profession.
To join the IAT, you will first have to attend our intervention training. You will be provided
with an overview of international human rights law followed by training on how the Society
drafts interventions and how to use the Society’s Intervention Manual.
If you would like to know when the next training is taking place then please contact the
Human Rights Adviser at courtenay.barklem@lawsociety.org.uk
Working Groups
IAT members are encouraged to form working groups of volunteers to research, monitor and
act upon human rights issues of common interest. Working groups have included: Events,
Lawyers at Risk, Independence of the Legal Profession, Russia, Colombia, Malaysia, and
Pakistan.
The work of the working group is driven by its members and very often will inform the Law
Society’s overall human rights policy. The Law Society’s International Human Rights
Committee assists and facilitates the groups.
For examples of working groups, see http://international.lawsociety.org.uk/node/2518 and
http://international.lawsociety.org.uk/node/2779
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human rights lawyers association
About the Human Rights Lawyers’ Association
The HRLA’s principal objective is to promote, protect and develop effective legal protection
of human rights and fundamental freedoms within the UK legal framework and system of
government. The HRLA is a membership organisation and students join for free!
The organisation is a forum for those involved in the law and legal professions to discuss
human rights issues. It facilitates the sharing of knowledge and ideas about human rights
law and fosters the exchange of views between specialists from different areas of expertise
and the wider legal community.
The HRLA aims to further research, education and training in all areas of human rights law; it
collaborates with organisations whose objectives are similar to those of the HRLA; it
supports students in their human rights work in the UK and abroad; it organises critical and
constructive seminars, lectures, workshops and debates about topical human rights issues.
The HRLA seeks to respond quickly to any developments that affect human rights law in the
UK. This may be a judgment of the House of Lords or the European Court of Human Rights,
or evolving Government policy. The events based on these developments are free, or
subsidized, for HRLA members and strive to create a forum for interactive discussion and
debate.
Past events include Sexual Apartheid, Political Islam and Women’s Rights; Inquests,
Inquiries and the Right to Life; Torture Team: The Lawyers who Authorised Torture;
Complicity with Apartheid; The Future of Children’s Rights in the UK; Human Rights and the
Environment.
For upcoming events see www.hrla.org.uk/events
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts
which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which
human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and
want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people
Preamble, Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948
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HRLA BURSARY
The Human Rights Lawyers Association is pleased to announce the launch of the 2010
HRLA Bursary Scheme. The deadline to apply is the 2nd May 2010.
The HRLA recognises that those without independent financial backing can sometimes be
unable to take up internships, work placements and other either unpaid or poorly paid work
in human rights law. They may therefore miss out on these opportunities and this can lead to
their being disadvantaged when applying for jobs within the human rights field. To assist
people in this position, in 2006 the HRLA established a bursary scheme to assist law
students, either those currently studying (either undergraduate degree, postgraduate studies
or LPC/BVC/Law Conversion Course) or those who have recently graduated, in undertaking
such work.
Each year the HRLA will provide around 5 awards from a maximum annual bursary fund of
£6,000, provided there are suitable applicants. A single award will not normally total more
than £1,000.
Please see the bursary section of the website (http://www.hrla.org.uk/Bursary.php) for the
detailed policy document and application form. If you have any questions about the scheme,
please, in the first instance, consult the policy document, which should answer all your
questions.
Best of luck with your bursary applications.
HRLA Bursary Committee
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Courtenay Barklem
Law Society, Human rights adviser
Courtenay is a solicitor-advocate who works at Law Society as the human rights adviser.
His role is to formulate Law Society policy on key human rights issues, and to promote
engagement among legal profession in human rights.
Before changing direction in favour of human rights, he previously specialised in
international construction disputes. During that time, he also worked pro bono on various
human rights issues, in particular death penalty cases in the Caribbean and USA. In 2002/3,
he spent 6 months on sabbatical working on capital defence in South Carolina.
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
Through my job I have had the honour to meet lawyers like Beatrice Mtetwa, from
Zimbabwe, Dora Lucy Arias from Colombia, and Ali Ahmed Kurd from Pakistan.
They have courageously carried out their duties as lawyers, defending the human
rights of others, in the face of intimidation, threats and physical violence.
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
After working in the US on capital defence, I came back to UK in 2003 determined to
make my way in human rights full time rather than just pro bono.
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
Yes. I’ve already mentioned my stint in South Carolina. Also, I worked for 3 months
unpaid in 2007 to re-establish the human rights programme at the Law Society. This
is why the Human Rights Lawyers Association’s bursary scheme and the Law
Society’s Diversity Access Scheme are so important – to give others a fair chance
who would not otherwise have the luxury of being able to work for free.
4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
Successful completion of a human rights fact-finding mission to Colombia in
September 2008. It had been an extremely tough and demanding week, having
taken 40+ UK lawyers to Colombia to investigate the harassment and assassination
of human rights lawyers.
5. What has been the low-point?
20 June 2008. A former client, with whom I had worked closely, was executed. He
had an IQ of 77, and had represented himself at trial.
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
I am becoming increasingly interested in economic, social and cultural rights and the
right to development.
7. What is your favourite human right?
The right to life.
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8. Do you support the work of a particular human rights NGO?
I am a committee member of both the Human Rights Lawyers Association and
Amicus - Assisting Lawyers for Justice. I also sit on the lawyers’ advisory committee
of Peace Brigades International UK. I am a member of A4ID.
9. What is your dream job?
I already have a dream job – but I’ll let you know if anything changes.
10. When was the last time that you pulled an all-nighter?
A year ago – trying to meet a deadline for submitting a paper.
11. What was the last book you read?
Whoops!: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay by John Lanchester
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Ian Brownlee
Senior Policy Advisor, CPS
Ian joined CPS South Yorkshire in 1998 after other careers, including service in the RAF,
one year in private practice as a solicitor and 10 years as a lecturer in law at University of
Leeds. Ian has six years experience of general prosecution work including advocacy in the
magistrates and crown courts and he spent five years as a member of the trials unit
specialising in crown court cases. In 2005 Ian was appointed to Policy Directorate as policy
advisor where he leads on issues including prosecutor ethics, sentencing policy and human
rights law.
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
I’m going to play safe and say, Keir Starmer QC – as DPP, he’s my boss.
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
When I joined CPS as a Crown Prosecutor in 1998 – human rights come with the
territory.
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
No. I was pitched right in to prosecuting in the Magistrates’ courts, after a short
period of induction.
4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
Getting through the CPS in-house training on the ECHR and discovering that, despite
what is sometimes said in parts of the press, the Convention is in no sense “a villains’
charter”.
5. What has been the low-point?
There hasn’t really been one, although every now and again a story in the press
misrepresenting the impact of the Human Rights Act makes me pretty irate.
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
I’m following the cases of Al-Khawaja and Tahery v UK and Horncastle (which
involve the use of anonymous witnesses) pretty closely. In some of our most serious
cases the need to protect the lives and rights of witnesses brings us pretty close to
the line on the defendant’s right to confront their accusers. For victims and witnesses,
(and for defendants) it’s far from an academic debate.
7. What is your favourite human right?
It’s got to be Article 6 – making sure our prosecutions comply with its provisions is
central to our work as the main prosecuting authority for England and Wales. And if I
were ever accused of a crime, I should want to know I was going to be afforded all
the rights guaranteed by Article 6.
8. Do you support the work of a particular human rights NGO?
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I’m a supporter of Amnesty International.
9. What is your dream job?
I’ve just been selected for a secondment to the Principal Legal Advisor’s office at
CPS headquarters starting next January and I’m pretty excited about the range of
work I’ll get involved in there.
10. When was the last time that you pulled an all-nighter?
Hey, I’m a civil servant! I do have to work over, from time to time, as all lawyers do.
But thankfully, all-nighters are not part of the normal expectations of the job.
11. What was the last book you read?
Roy Hattersley’s “Borrowed Time” – a very readable account of politics and social
conditions in Britain between the World Wars.
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Monica Carss-Frisk QC
Barrister, Blackstone Chambers
Monica was called to the Bar in 1985 having completed the BCL at Oxford. Monica practices
at Blackstone Chambers where she specialises particularly in public law and human rights,
having taken Silk in 2001. Monica has acted in many high profile public law and civil liberties
cases, appearing both for and against the government. Her practice includes judicial review,
immigration and cases under the Freedom of Information Act, many examples of which have
been heard in the House of Lords and at the European Court of Human Rights. Monica has
also spent time teaching law and civil liberties at UCL and is a regular contributor to
Halsbury’s Laws on Constitutional Law and Human Rights and Butterworth’s Human Rights
Law and Practice.
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Jonathan Cooper OBE
Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
Edward Fitzgerald, Anthony Lester, Keir Starmer, Geoffrey Robertson and Helena
Kennedy (in no particular order)
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
The AIDS crisis at the end of the 1980s. It was clear to me that law without rights
could not cope with the crisis which affected such vulnerable communities.
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
Yes, many, including in the US. But I learnt most from the AIRE Centre. Nuala Mole
is outstanding (and extraordinary)
4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
Being a small part of the process that led to the Human Rights Act.
5. What has been the low-point?
Not having been able to persuade the majority of politicians about the value of
human rights to good government. Politicians need to become human rights
advocates.
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
The need for an effective and substantive right to privacy.
7. What is your favourite human right?
Privacy
8. Do you support the work of a particular human rights NGO?
Yes, many. I am really pleased to be part of the HRLA. Occasionally I do work for the
National Aids Trust (NAT). It’s a very effective rights based organisation.
9. What is your dream job?
Anything that effectively promotes human rights
10. When was the last time that you pulled an all-nighter?
Being self employed means there are always deadlines. I haven’t worked past
midnight for a while.
11. What was the last book you read?
I am reading 1848: A Year of Revolution. I love it.
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Corinna Ferguson
Legal Officer, Liberty
Corinna is a barrister and since August 2008 has been a legal officer at Liberty, the UK’s
oldest civil liberties and human rights organization which works to promote human rights and
protect civil liberties through a combination of test case litigation, lobbying, campaigning and
the provision of free advice. Corinna has worked on a diverse range of cases at Liberty,
raising issues such as the policing of protest, religious freedom in the workplace and the
obligations on the state to protect victims of forced labour. She also conducts interventions
on behalf of Liberty, including in two cases concerning the UK’s alleged complicity in torture
abroad. Corinna was called to the Bar in 2003 and before joining Liberty she was a selfemployed barrister at Old Square Chambers practising in the field of employment law. She
also undertook a one-year post as a judicial assistant to the Law Lords.
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
A couple of years ago I saw Sydney Kentridge QC arguing a case in the House of
Lords. A mere 86 years old, he was one of the most impressive advocates I have
ever come across. My colleagues at Liberty, of course, are also a daily inspiration to
me.
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
Without much thought I applied for the conversion course after my English degree
and discovered that law was more interesting and important than most people
realise. I worked for a couple of years as a self-employed barrister doing mostly
employment law, but when the opportunity came up to work at Liberty I jumped at the
chance to be part of an organisation whose work I had supported for many years. I
was very lucky to get the job.
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
I volunteered at the Prisoners’ Advice Service during the Bar Vocational Course and
undertook a three-month internship at the European Court of Human Rights shortly
after being called to the Bar.
4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
Reading the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Gillan & Quinton v
UK on 12 January this year, and realising that the Court had upheld our claim that
sweeping stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000
breached privacy rights.
5. What has been the low-point?
Hmm there are many I can’t publish… I do remember, in the very early days of
practice at the Bar, being shouted at in the street by a client who had lost her case.
That wasn’t a great day.
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
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The Human Rights Act came into force a couple of weeks after I started studying law,
and it I find it extraordinary that less than a decade later we at Liberty are having to
fight for its continued existence. It is our very own Bill of Rights, and those who say it
needs to be scrapped or replaced are either misinformed or fail to understand that it
is an essential constitutional document which protects the rights of us all.
7. What is your favourite human right?
I’ll pick Article 4 – the right not to be held in slavery or servitude – because I bet noone else will. Also because I was involved in a campaign last year which resulted in
the government conceding that Article 4 required it to create a criminal offence to
outlaw modern day slavery.
8. Do you support the work of a particular human rights NGO?
Let me think…
9. What is your dream job?
I’m in it.
10. When was the last time that you pulled an all-nighter?
I assume you mean working. Well I was up pretty late a couple of weeks ago, but it
was my own fault. I obviously haven’t learnt my lesson from all those essay crises at
university because I still tend to leave things to the very last minute.
11. What was the last book you read?
Embarrassingly, it was a Perry Mason story – The Case of the Perjured Parrot.
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Rosa Curling
Solicitor, Leigh Day & Co.
Rosa Curling is an assistant solicitor in the Human Rights Department at Leigh Day & Co.
She has been involved in many legal challenges to national and international bodies
concerning a variety of issues including health, education, freedom of information,
environmental law, discrimination, civil liberties, community care and ‘the right to die’.
Rosa has a BA in Anthropology and a Masters in Human Rights. She worked at several
NGOs and charities before becoming a solicitor, including Liberty, the European Roma
Rights Centre, ChildLine and the British Institute of Human Rights.
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Malcolm Fowler
Partner, Jonas Roy Bloom
Malcolm was admitted as a solicitor in 1967 and has extensive experience within criminal
defence work. He undertakes trials in the magistrates' courts as well as appearing in the
crown courts. Malcolm has been a Council Member of the National Law Society since 1999
and chaired its Criminal Law Committee for four years. He is a former President of the
Birmingham Law Society, a higher courts' advocate and a duty solicitor.
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Alex Gask
Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers
Alex became a tenant at Doughty Street in 2009 after successfully completing pupillage.
Alex has a broad civil and criminal practice, with a particular focus on human rights,
encompassing immigration, actions against the police, prisoners' rights, public law and
criminal defence work.
Prior to joining Doughty Street, Alex spent 5 years as a solicitor and legal officer at the
human rights organisation Liberty. During his time there, Alex led on much of the
organisation's most significant and high profile litigation. He worked on a wide range of
issues including the right to protest, sex and sexuality discrimination, breach of privacy by
police & local authorities, excessive police powers and the right to effective investigation into
inhuman & degrading treatment. Alex also provided training on human rights to solicitors and
advisers throughout the UK.
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Gemma Hobcraft
Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
A large number of them, but, in particular, Edward Fitzgerald QC
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
One opportunity for me was absolutely formative. It gets quite long-winded to explain,
but basically a chance opportunity led to me starting (when I was 16) a 10 year
‘career’ in sexual and reproductive health and rights, which took me to the United
Nations a number of times to advocate for young people’s access, amongst other
things, to sexual health services. It was a fantastic experience, which gave me
numerous opportunities to travel, develop and learn where my strengths and
weaknesses were. It was my work with the Youth Coalition that convinced me that I
wanted to train as a lawyer because it seemed as if being a lawyer (for some reason I
still don’t understand) made people listen to you more, even if what a lawyer said was
no different to what a non-lawyer said. I decided that to be the best advocate I could I
should become a lawyer. I was able to combine this work with the 6 years of study it
took me to get to where I am today. I completed a History degree, followed by the
Law Conversion course (which acts as the equivalent of a law degree for non-law
graduates), the Bar Vocational Course, an LL.M in Human Rights Law, alongside a
few summers working abroad for various organisations and institutions, and a
number of other domestic volunteer opportunities. In October 2007 I started a broad
ranging Pupillage at Doughty Street Chambers, where I am now a Tenant.
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
Yes. A few. In fact, probably too many, but each was a really useful experience. In
the UK I interned with the Mary Ward Legal Centre, the Kurdish Human Rights
Project and the London Detainee Support Group.
Abroad, I interned at the International Criminal Court (The Hague), the Center for
Reproductive Rights (in New York) and the United Nations Foundation (Washington
D.C).
4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
Being a junior in the case of De Boucherville. This was a case for a prisoner in
Mauritius in which the Privy Council decided that a mandatory life sentence for
murder was unconstitutional.
5. What has been the low-point?
Exhaustion. Having to cancel meeting up with friends far too often, due to work!
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
Human rights and extradition – particularly the McKinnon case.
7. What is your favourite human right?
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All of them!!
8. Do you support the work of particular human rights NGO?
I still support a number of NGOs working on sexual and reproductive rights, plus
some domestic ones (through pro bono work, mainly).
9. What is your dream job?
This is pretty much it for now – although it would be better if there were more hours in
the day so that I could improve the work/play balance!
10. When was the last time that you pulled an all-nighter?
Two weeks ago, I literally spent all night working in Chambers (our offices) it was
very eerie!
11. What was the last book you read?
The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson and Michael Mansfield’s autobiography
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Helen Law
Barrister, Matrix Chambers
Helen is a barrister at Matrix specialising in crime, public law, human rights and public
international law. She studied law at Birmingham University and did an LLM in public
international law and international criminal law at Leiden University in the Netherlands. She
worked at the Law Commission for a year as a research assistant in the criminal law team,
before going to Bar school and then on to traineeship at Matrix in 2005. She has a wide
ranging practice, focusing primarily on crime and human rights. By way of example, in the
past year she has been working on: two applications to the European Court of Human Rights
in concerning persons detained in Iraq by the UK, one involving transfer to the death penalty
and one involving detention contrary to Article 5; a public inquiry in Northern Ireland into a
sectarian murder in 1997; several criminal trials arising out of the Climate Camp in Kent last
year; two criminal cases concerning human trafficking for sexual exploitation and an
application to the ECtHR about the absence of any domestic law offence of servitude or
forced labour; several claims against the police for assault, false imprisonment and race
discrimination; and a trial concerning conspiracy to blackmail by animal rights activists.
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
My colleagues at Matrix.
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
There wasn’t one defining moment, just a developing interest from when I was at
university.
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
Yes, a placement with Interights.
4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
When the European Court of Human Rights granted interim measures preventing two
Iraqi clients from being transferred out of the custody of the UK forces in Iraq, back to
the Iraqi authorities where they face a real risk of the death penalty. We had lost the
case in the Divisional Court and had to have a full Court of Appeal hearing 10 days
later, on 29-30 December 2008. The Court of Appeal refused our appeal and lifted
the injunction which had been in place preventing our clients’ transfer until 4pm on 30
December. Within 30 minutes of the Court of Appeal hearing finishing the European
Court granted us interim measures. The feeling of relief for the whole team when we
got the call was great.
5. What has been the low-point?
Finding out late on New Years’ Eve that our Iraqi clients had been transferred in
breach of the interim measures order of the European Court.
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
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On the domestic level, I defend quite regularly in criminal trials involving protesters
and am increasingly concerned about policing strategies at large demonstrations, as
has been very poignantly underscored by the recent events at G20.
7. What is your favourite human right?
I don’t think I could isolate one as being my favourite as my work touches on them
all, but I have always had a very strong interest in the interaction between criminal
law and human rights and therefore the right to a fair trial is perhaps the one I am
most familiar with.
8. Do you support the work of a particular human rights NGO?
I am a member of Justice and Liberty, and strongly believe that one of the most
important checks and balances on any government is the existence of such
organisations within society.
9. What is your dream job?
At this stage in my life, I don’t think there is anything else I’d rather do than be a
barrister.
10. When was the last time that you pulled an all-nighter?
Last October, working on a deadline for some closing submissions for a public
inquiry.
11. What was the last book you read?
Indignation by Philip Roth.
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Rob Linham
Head of Litigation, Legislation and the Council of Europe in the Human Rights
Division of the Ministry of Justice.
Rob has held this post under different titles since 2005, when the Division was part of the
former Department for Constitutional Affairs. He is responsible for policy on the Human
Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights, and particularly for
advising on the interaction between human rights – both domestically and internationally –
and Government policy. He is also responsible for overseeing the Government’s approach to
human rights points arising in litigation, and for co-ordinating the implementation of
judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
Rob studied law at St John’s College, Oxford, where his particular interest was employment
law. He joined the civil service in the Lord Chancellor’s Department, and developed a
particular expertise in Parliamentary procedure. He came to human rights through the
circuitous route of working on asylum and immigration legislation and then on the
development of the powers of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the Equality
Act 2006.
Away from his day job, Rob writes questions for academic quiz competitions, and was a
member of the team from the Ministry of Justice that won the 2008 series of University
Challenge: The Professionals. Rob also travels extensively, particularly in North America,
and has an irredeemable love of the sport of baseball.
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
As I spend most of my time advising on quite detailed issues, I particularly enjoy
academics who are capable of addressing the bigger picture. For example, I never
miss a chance to hear Conor Gearty give a lecture: even if I don’t always agree with
him (which I’m sure is the point), I love the way he can jump between history, law and
philosophy when talking about human rights.
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
Human rights turned out to be something of a happy accident for me: my academic
interest was more in employment law! Following my degree and some academic
research work, I was expected to follow the dutiful path of taking the LPC and then
getting a nice training contract with a big firm. Having decided that I didn’t want to be
a lawyer, joining the civil service was a way of getting as far away as I could from
law. I joined mainly as a specialist in Parliamentary procedure, and spent the first few
years of my career shepherding various tricky government Bills through Parliament.
My route into human rights was through working on legislation on asylum appeals (so
I’m very much poacher-turned-gamekeeper), and then on the human rights aspects
of the Equality Bill (Act 2006), including the powers of what is now the Equality and
Human Rights Commission. Five-and-a-half years later, I’m still doing human rights
policy.
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
No.
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4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
Being in government means that many of the best things I’ve done are never seen in
public! I’m particularly proud of section 30(3) of the Equality Act 2006: the full
potential of the power has yet to be realised by the Equality and Human Rights
Commission, but for the first time our law contains provision for public interest human
rights judicial review.
5. What has been the low-point?
There have been a few occasions when I have found myself crawling out of
Parliament at a horrible time of night, having just seen through another painful debate
defending a fairly borderline position, and I have wondered why I didn’t just take up a
nice cosy job writing dry legal advice and learning to play golf. The feeling usually
passes pretty quickly.
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
I have a professional interest in pretty much every human rights debate, and I try to
keep up with as much as I can. I have a particular personal interest in human rights
in the information age: not just the well-worn paths on personal information and the
protection of intellectual property, but also more esoteric interests such as the
application of property rights to the internet.
7. What is your favourite human right?
I believe that I’m contractually obliged to say, “all of the ones to which the United
Kingdom has signed up”. That said, I feel sometimes that Article 24 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights is underrated.
8. Do you support the work of a particular human rights NGO?
While I get on very well with many of the people I meet regularly from NGOs, it’s not
really my place to choose favourites.
9. What is your dream job?
I suspect that I probably have it already: there’s a reason why I’ve stayed for what in
civil service terms is getting on for an eternity. I hope that at some point I may be
able to find time to do some research and writing of my own, and maybe even get
paid for it, but that’s for another day.
10. When was the last time that you pulled an all-nighter?
I can’t quite manage all-nighters as readily these days as when I was a student, so I
usually manage to grab a few hours’ sleep – even if I have to nap with my mobile
phone on the pillow while all-night conciliation proceedings wrangle to a painful
conclusion in Brussels. The last complete all-nighter was just over a year ago, when
my team was very short-handed and I worked through the night to draft the
Government’s response to a report by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human
Rights on the implementation of human rights judgments
(http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/responding-human-rights-judgments.htm). I’m
23
rather proud of some parts of it, especially those written at four o’clock in the
morning.
11. What was the last book you read?
Tempting though it is to come up with something trendy or academic, I suspect that it
was actually The Hands of History, the splendid collection of Simon Hoggart’s
Parliamentary sketches in The Guardian from the Blair years. Sadly, my bedtime
reading usually consists of piles of journal articles or Council of Europe papers.
24
Jesse Nicholls
BVC Student
Jesse Nicholls is currently completing the Bar Vocational Course prior to commencing
pupillage at Tooks Chambers with an interest in claimant public law, criminal defence and
human rights work. Jesse took the law conversion course at City University in 2008-2009.
Prior to that he read History at Trinity College, Cambridge, and worked for a year as a
political lobbyist. Jesse currently volunteers one evening a week at the Islington Legal
Advice Centre and has previously volunteered at the CAB in the Principal Registry of the
Family Division and interned at the Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights.
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
The people I worked with at the Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights
inspired me. There is no glory or recognition in what they do and the obstacles to
success that they face are immense, but they commit themselves to helping others
everyday. Similarly with people I’ve met working at the CAB and the Islington Legal
Advice Centre. It’s inspiring to see people volunteering their time for others for no
reason other than human compassion.
At the big-name end of the spectrum: Michael Mansfield, Clive Stafford-Smith, Keir
Starmer, Ed Fitzgerald, Tim Otty
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
There was never a single moment I don’t think. I have always wanted to do
something that was more than just a job and that I felt was contributing to people
other than just myself. The gradual realisation that legal activism has become as
important as political participation in holding government to account and compelling
states to more fully respect their populations led me to pursue a career in human
rights.
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
I volunteered one day a week at the CAB in the Principal Registry of the Family
Division in London during my conversion course. I also helped on a case for the
London Innocence Project. In the summer after my conversion course I spent 6
weeks at the Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights, and currently I
volunteer one night a week at the Islington Legal Advice Centre.
4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
I have yet to have a career in human rights, but there have been a few memorable
moments.
I remember helping a man at the CAB work out who to call in order to resume contact
with his children. He had just left prison and when he arrived he feared he might
never see them again simply because he had been in prison. Similarly, I negotiated a
longer deadline with a hard-nosed debt enforcement agency for repayment of a
parking fine for a Congolese woman with two young children. I felt that if I hadn’t
made her case to them in terms they could understand there would have been no
25
chance of an extension and they would have simply gone to her flat and taken away
her possessions for auction in front of her kids.
Finally, it was really satisfying calling a police officer in rural Jamaica who had
repeatedly refused, without good reason, over a four month period to release to a
young mother the simple one-page statement confirming that the father of her child
had been killed. All I had to say was ‘Hello, I’m calling from the Independent
Jamaican Council for Human Rights’ and he did it within 5 minutes. It was clear that
this human rights body had established itself as one that it was dangerous to ignore
(at the same time this was a low-point as it was abundantly clear that for many
voiceless people who never have human rights advocates on their side, they can be
ignored with impunity).
On a personal note, getting pupillage was a great moment.
5. What has been the low-point?
Walking around the main remand centre outside Kingston, Jamaica. There were 6
people within each small cell, no natural light, 40 degree temperature, virtually 24
hour lock down, and this applied to people who had yet to face trial. Some had lived
in those conditions for upwards of 4 years. I don’t think it’s ever been so clear to me
how far there is to go – of course every low-point is a potential opportunity.
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
There are plenty: rendition and British government complicity in torture; the emerging
relationship between international criminal law and international human rights law,
particularly in the sub-Saharan African context; the debate about whether there is a
minimum procedural content implicit to Article 6, and if so, what it is, particularly in
the context of the control order regime; the extent of police powers to stop and
search, detain without charge and restrict public protest, particularly where justified
by anti-terror laws, interests (and angers) me; legal aid and access to justice for all.
7. What is your favourite human right?
Article 6. As an aspiring public law, criminal defence and human rights barrister it
seems pretty important and it is so vital to fight against its erosion – treatment by the
law is the main contact that most people will have with the law, so it is vital that it is
fair and seen to be fair. Having spent time in Jamaica, I caught a brief glimpse of a
society where the concept of a fair trial is an oxymoron to most people, and the
poisonous popular effect that can have.
8. Do you support the work of a particular human rights NGO?
JUSTICE, Liberty, Islington Legal Advice Centre, Citizens Advice Bureau
9. What is your dream job?
My mum used to tell me I should run the train timetabling for London Transport
because I (allegedly) hated being late for school – she’s very disappointed by my
current career choice.
10. When was the last time that you pulled an all-nighter?
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At the end of November 2009 – my time management skills in relation to a piece of
coursework on the BVC went awry.
11. What was the last book you read?
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
27
Adam Sandell
Barrister, Matrix Chambers
Adam joined Matrix Chambers as a barrister last year, having previously worked as a doctor.
He works mainly in the areas of public and human rights law that protect people who are
vulnerable or marginalised, with a particular focus on asylum, immigration and prison law,
but enjoys a bit of criminal defence on the side, and other weird and wonderful things that
come his way from time to time.
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
I’m most inspired by underpaid lawyers and advisors in law centres and voluntary
organisations around the country, who fight, day after day, with little recognition or
status or pay, for the things that matter most to vulnerable, marginalised people.
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
No one defining moment. I was working for the NHS in the north of England, and
found myself increasingly driven to stand up and argue for people who were
experiencing injustice of one sort or another. And, after lots of thought, I suspected
that legal advocacy might be where I would have the most to offer.
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
I did some voluntary policy research for Legal Action Group, which is a great
organisation. And a number of social security and employment cases, through the
Free Representation Unit in London. (I continue to do pro bono cases for them from
time to time.) I’d also been involved, through my work and in my spare time, in
various other social justice organisations one way or another.
4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
I’ve been doing it for less than a year, but the best bits have been the occasional
quiet victories that change the lives of the people involved. One of the best was
getting indefinite leave to join her only remaining son in the UK for a frail, displaced
Somalian widow, most of whose family had been killed in the civil war.
5. What has been the low-point?
Turning up for my first court appearance, a suddenly urgent hearing where my
colleague in the case was on holiday abroad. I’d been told that it would be a quick,
ten-minute administrative thing, and it should have been. But it exploded into a
complex, several hour hearing with two experienced barristers on the other side and
a very hostile judge in an area of law that I’d had to learn on the way to the hearing.
Needless to say, I went down in flames.
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
To be honest, I’m not convinced that the concept of human rights is a sufficiently
coherent way of determining how we should treat each other. But, if I had to pick a
28
single question, it would be why we consider it appropriate to condition apparently
universal rights on nationality.
7. What is your favourite human right?
The right not to be subjected to degrading treatment. If it did what it says on the tin, it
would be the only right we’d need.
8. Do you support the work of a particular human rights NGO?
Several, but mainly Oxfam. I’m also involved in Legal Action Group, which works on
access to justice in the UK. I do a little pro bono work for NGOs too.
9. What is your dream job?
Being a ranger in the Lake District National Park.
10. When was the last time that you pulled an all-nighter?
When I was a junior hospital doctor, and had to do so regularly. Learning that timemanagement is actually about self-management was a belated revelation for me.
11. What was the last book you read?
Fugitive Pieces, a wonderful novel by Anne Michaels.
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Phil Shiner
Solicitor, Public Interest Lawyers
Phil Shiner leads the team at Public Interest Lawyers. Phil has been practicing as a solicitor
in the UK since 1981. Phil has acted for the claimants in much of the recent litigation relating
to the invasion and occupation of Iraq as well as for the Gurkhas in a series of discrimination
cases.
Phil is a visiting professor at London Metropolitan University and a visiting fellow at LSE. He
was made "Human Rights Lawyer of the Year" by the Joint Liberty and Justice Awards in
2004.
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
Rabinder Singh, Michael Fordham QC, Shaheed Fatima.
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
Human rights law found me following the UK’s illegal decision to invade Iraq and
thereafter commit egregious human rights abuses during the occupation particularly
in UK detention facilities.
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
No
4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
Winning the Al-Sweady case in October 2009 about allegations of a massacre of
Iraqi civilians in a UK detention centre in May 2004.
5. What has been the low-point?
Easter Monday, 2007, alone in my house studying the appalling photographs of the
dead body of Baha Mousa.
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
How to resolve the conflict between international humanitarian law and international
human rights law.
7. What is your favourite human right?
The absolute prohibition on torture.
8. Do you support the work of a particular human rights NGO?
Redress
9. What is your dream job?
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My present job.
10. When was the last time that you pulled an all-nighter?
Such questions encourage a macho/bravado approach to the work which is
inappropriate.
11. What was the last book you read?
Patty Smith’s autobiography.
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Ahila Sornarajah
Lawyer, Ministry of Justice
Ahila Sornarajah is a government lawyer, currently advising on Human Rights Law at the
Ministry of Justice. Her team advises on cases in the European Court of Human Rights,
compatibility of parliamentary bills with the Human Rights Act 1998 and trains and updates
government lawyers on developments in Human Rights Law.
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
Soli Sorabjee, former Attorney General of India. A government lawyer who pushed
for human rights (particularly those of dispossessed communities) to be at the
forefront of his country’s agenda.
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
I naturally developed an interest in human rights as a government lawyer. In
government human rights pervades all kinds of policy decisions, ranging from the
compatibility of the use of body scanners at airports with people’s right to a private
life all the way through to compensating treasure hunters!
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
While I was at university, I actually focussed on internships with city law firms and
was offered a training contract with one. I soon found that I did not enjoy corporate
law quite as much as I enjoyed studying Constitutional and European law at
university, however, and soon jumped ship to the government where those areas of
law are far more relevant.
4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
Any time I feel I have been part of a team where we’ve looked at different options for
achieving a policy objective in order to ensure Human Rights compliance. As a
lawyer, it is a very interesting process, particularly as one learns so much about
government policy making.
5. What has been the low-point?
Trying to get to grips with very complicated pensions law.
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
The balancing exercise the courts often have to make between Articles 8 (right to a
private life) and 10 (freedom of expression) in relation to the prior restraint of
publications. It is an important issue that is currently subject to vigorous public and
parliamentary debate. The subject matter is also fairly engaging as the case law
disproportionately relates to adulterous sportsmen who have done a fairly bad job at
keeping their overly interesting private lives under wraps!
7. What is your favourite human right?
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Article 14 because it is all encompassing - it means that everyone is entitled to enjoy
the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights without
discrimination.
8. Do you support the work of a particular human rights NGO?
Most of them. Any organisation that asks tough questions about human rights serves
an important public purpose.
9. What is your dream job?
Oddly, to advise on the relationship between international trade and human rights
law.
10. When was the last time that you pulled an all-nighter?
I am glad to say that I have never pulled an all-nighter in government, though I often
slept under my desk as a trainee in private practice!
11. What was the last book you read?
I like fiction, so the disappointing and human rights-unrelated truth is Cloud Atlas by
David Mitchell. However, more virtuously, I am part of the way through the Rule of
Law by Lord Bingham.
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Martha Spurrier
BVC Student
Martha graduated with a history degree in 2007 and, after trying out a few things, converted
to law at City University in London in 2009. She is currently doing the BVC in London before
starting pupillage at 36 Bedford Row in October where she hopes to specialise in criminal
defence and public law. Martha also works as a researcher in the House of Lords, volunteers
weekly at a legal advice centre and is the assistant editor of the European Human Rights
Law Review.
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
The lawyers that work for the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre in Budapest are
pretty inspiring; fighting for human rights for the mentally ill in Central and Eastern
Europe is no small task but those lawyers are dedicated, fearless and ingenious.
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
I found that studying history, and particularly political philosophy, made me think
pretty hard about how people use ideas and belief systems to instruct the way that
they organise themselves. Of all the belief systems I came across, I found human
rights the most compelling.
And I’ve always said there can be no fun without rules, so I think the law part of the
career was inevitable.
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
Before I converted to law I did internships at the Young Foundation and at the
Constitution Unit. And then when I took up with law I volunteered at my local prison,
Wormwood Scrubs, with the Independent Monitoring Board, worked as a case
worker for Amicus and did an internship with the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre
in Budapest. At the moment I volunteer for the Islington Legal Advice Centre one
night a week.
4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
I haven’t really had a career yet but victories at the Islington Legal Advice Centre feel
significant sometimes. It’s usually a case of a stern phone call to a heavy handed
debt recovery agency which isn’t very glamorous but feels like the bread and butter
of human rights.
5. What has been the low-point?
My first visit to Wormwood Scrubs left me with a depressing sense of the regressive,
uninspired and neglected side of the criminal justice system. And on the (all too
frequent) occasions where the little person doesn’t win at the Legal Advice Centre it
can be hard to stay optimistic about the system. But in a strange way it’s the low
points that spur you on.
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
34
At the moment I am really interested in how the European Court of Human Rights are
developing the use of Article 14 to address states’ failures to protect women from
domestic violence and rape. The recent case of Opuz v. Turkey found that genderbased violence constitutes discrimination; it was held that the criminalisation of
domestic violence was inadequate where the law fails to have a deterrent effect and
the state fails to investigate and prosecute reported incidents effectively. This new
emphasis could be a powerful way to force states to address their systemic failures
to give adequate legal protection to victims of abuse.
7. What is your favourite human right?
Article 14, see above.
8. Do you support the work of a particular human rights NGO?
The Mental Disability Advocacy Centre
JUSTICE
Liberty
The Howard League for Penal Reform
9. What is your dream job?
Being a cryptozoologist: they spend their lives searching for animals that are thought
to be mythical. Amazing.
10. When was the last time that you pulled an all-nighter?
OLPAS. An infinitely long form left impossibly late.
11. What was the last book you read?
The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller.
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Katy Swaine
Children’s Rights Alliance
Katy qualified as a solicitor in 2000 and started her career acting for individuals and
businesses in commercial and employment disputes. In 2003 she moved into the voluntary
sector, joining the national drugs charity Release where she provided legal services for
those affected by drug use. Katy joined the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) in
2007 to set up its legal department, with the remit of using legal advocacy to help CRAE
achieve its aims. Katy leads on CRAE's strategic litigation work and runs the You’ve got the
Right advice service for children on human rights and equality law. Katy is chair of the
Rights of the Child UK (ROCK) coalition, seeking the incorporation of the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child into UK law.
1. Which human rights practitioners do you find most inspiring?
Two examples –
- Clive Stafford-Smith at Reprieve [torture and death penalty]
- Deborah Coles at INQUEST [deaths in state custody]
Both are single-mindedly dedicated to a cause and work directly with the people
affected by the issues they are working on –inevitably involving personal tragedy.
This requires real grit and determination as well as creativity in working effectively
with limited resources.
2. When did you decide to follow a career in human rights? Was there one defining
moment?
Moving into human rights work has been a gradual process for me. After qualifying
as a solicitor, I spent 3 years practising commercial litigation before moving into the
voluntary sector to work in community legal services for drug users and defend drug
users’ human rights. It is only since I started working at the Children’s Rights
Alliance for England that human rights has become the mainstay of my work.
3. Did you do any internships or voluntary placements on your route into human rights
work?
No
4. What has been the high-point of your human rights career so far?
Court of Appeal judgment in R (AC) v Secretary of State for Justice [2008], in which
new rules allowing children to be restrained to ensure good order and discipline in
secure training centres were quashed by the Court on the grounds inter alia of
breaches of articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR read in light of the CRC. CRAE coordinated a joint application to intervene in the case.
5. What has been the low-point?
Death of 15 year-old Liam McManus in Lancaster Farms Young Offenders Institution,
November 2007.
6. Is there a current human rights debate that you are particularly interested in?
Incorporation of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into UK law; incorporation
of economic, social and cultural rights generally into UK law.
36
7. What was the last book you read?
Rabbit Run – John Updike
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Dr. Murray Wesson
Lecturer, Leeds University
Murray completed his LLB at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, before winning
the KwaZulu-Natal Rhodes Scholarship which took him to the University of Oxford. At Oxford
he read for a Bachelor of Civil Law as well as an MPhil. Murray went on to complete a DPhil
on the equality and socio-economic rights jurisprudence of the South African Constitutional
Court. Murray has been a lecturer at the University of Leeds since 2005, teaching
jurisprudence, constitutional law and human rights. In April 2009, Murray was a visiting
lecturer at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.
38
Paul Yates
Solicitor, Freshfields
Paul Yates' first degree was in music; he went on to complete a Ph.D. in musicology while
teaching undergraduates (all at Cambridge University). Paul then did the law conversion at
the College of Law and the legal practice course at BPP law school before training at city law
firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
Paul took part in pro bono projects at law school and throughout his training contract,
spending three months seconded to human rights NGO Liberty's legal and policy teams.
After qualifying into Freshfields' litigation department, Paul moved across to the pro bono
team in 2008 to run Freshfields' UK pro bono programme, which focuses on human rights,
access to justice, disadvantaged children and homelessness. Paul is currently in the process
of applying for higher rights of audience, and is both a volunteer advocate and trustee of the
Asylum Support Appeals Project.
39
Human Rights Organisations
Access to Justice Alliance
The campaign for civil legal aid: the AJA fights for civil litigants to enjoy the same access to
representation as criminal defendants by protecting, reviewing and publicising the need for
such funding. Activities include demonstrations, debates, marches and government lobbying.
www.accesstojusticealliance.org.uk
Advice Services Alliance
The umbrella body for independent advice services in the UK. Its members are national
networks of voluntary organisations providing advice and help on the law.
www.asauk.org.uk
Advocates for International Development
Lawyers with an international conscience. Poverty and inequality are the order of the day,
and organised action is the response. Comprehensive network of ways to involve yourself,
including campaigns for Millennium Development Goals. Focused towards practitioners,
A4ID operates through organised work groups.
www.a4id.org
AIRE Centre (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe)
Advises individuals on the punch that European Human Rights law can pack. Their support
spans the micro (case by case guidance, provided you aren’t trying to skewer the Little Guy)
to the macro (expert materials for those organising conferences etc).
www.airecentre.org
Amicus
Works on death penalty cases in the US. Offers internship opportunities as well as casework volunteer positions and publishes Amicus Journal, covering death penalty issues
worldwide.
www.amicus-alj.org
Amnesty UK
The old favourite. Justice, freedom, fairness and truth. Universal values. Often quoted, often
given short shrift in the real world. Amnesty organise truly international campaigns
championing human rights wherever they are trampled upon. Current causes include
abolishing the death penalty, ending internet repression, the China situation and violence
40
against women worldwide. Extensive volunteering opportunities.
www.amnesty.org.uk
Bail for Immigration Detainees
This charity adopts a two-prong approach to protect individuals detained as asylum seekers.
First, campaigning in the political sphere to amend human rights provisions for detainees
and requiring more robust protection mechanisms. Secondly, recruiting volunteers to handle
detainees’ applications to end their detention. Volunteers recruited in London, Oxford and
the South East.
www.biduk.org.uk
Bar Human Rights Committee
Network for human rights-concerned barristers, organising legal research, advocacy training
and publicity in Africa, America, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Russia. Particular focus on
protection of the rule of law and the people upholding it.
http://www.barhumanrights.org.uk
Bar Pro Bono Unit
Barristers have social consciences too. They established an organisation to prove it.
Volunteer a minimum of three days of time and expertise per year and bridge the gaping gulf
between private funding and the legal aid purse. Short registration process, then an
apparently unlimited licence to make law work for people, by working for free.
http://www.barprobono.org.uk/
British Institute of Human Rights
BIHR seek to bring human rights to life by producing and shaping human rights tools, public
policy and practices that empower people to improve their own lives and the lives of others.
They focus on working with the voluntary and third sectors, as well as lobbying government,
running research projects and promoting human rights awareness. BIHR offer many
internship and volunteering opportunities.
www.birhr.org.uk
British Irish Rights Watch
BIRW aims to monitor, support and publicise the people and groups affected by conflict in
Ireland. No affiliations with politics, religion or community. Activities include seminars,
publications, ad hoc consultation for lawyers, third party interventions and attending public
inquiries. Formidable body of work, recognised via the Beacon Prize for Northern Ireland
41
2007.
http://www.birw.org/
Campaign Against Criminalising Communities
Opposing laws based upon a pretext of counter-terrorism, campaigning for such laws to be
repealed and defending the right to dissent.
www.campacc.org.uk
Campaign for Freedom of Information
The rubber stamp of secrecy is the enemy, statutory right is the weapon and sustained
campaigning is the bread and butter of this group. Sign up for email updates and prove that
millions of voices are louder than singular action.
www.cfoi.org.uk
Centre for Capital Punishment Studies
Project based at the University of Westminster. Chiefly aimed at researching the death
penalty. Based on the notion that statistics speak louder than assertion, CCPS aims to coordinate NGOs, civil society and the state through research and publication. Attractive
internship programme to places including Jamaica, Malawi and Uganda.
www.wmin.ac.uk/law/
Child Poverty Action Group
Does what it says on the tin; a major force for social and economic justice in the UK. For
lawyers, it is a major publisher of leading reference books, particularly on welfare rights, and
it provides both telephone advice and training courses to welfare rights advisors.
www.cpag.org.uk
Coalition for the International Criminal Court
Network of NGOs supporting the ICC, via a Universal Ratification Campaign and general
work to keep constituent states informed and alive to the workings of the Court. Internships
available in Summer and Autumn in New York and The Hague.
www.iccnow.org
Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA)
Interesting, varied and up-to-date lectures offered in the Temple in London. Worthwhile
speakers, usually free attendance and no need to be a fully fledged lawyer to participate.
Advance registration required for some events, but turning up early is usually the best
42
guarantee.
www.adminlaw.org.uk
1 Crown Office Row's Human Rights Update website
Barristers' chambers 1 Crown Office Row runs a website providing details of developments
in human rights law, and articles on topical matters.
www.1cor.com/humanrights
Death Penalty Project
Campaigns focus upon the Caribbean and Africa with palpable results: 500 lives saved since
1992. Two pronged approach to legal intervention, via helping individual prisoners and
strategic litigation on the public law stage. Plus the research, information dissemination and
publication.
www.deathpenaltyproject.org
Discrimination Law Association
Membership available to anyone who cares about preventing discrimination. Activities
concentrate on conferences, publications. Particularly useful ‘Responses’ section setting out
the DLA position on legislative instruments impacting on discrimination law.
www.discriminationlaw.org.uk
Doughty Street Chambers Human Rights Bulletin
A periodic publication summarising important UK and European human rights cases.
Subscribe at - www.doughtystreet.co.uk/members/join/
Employment Lawyers Association
Extensive roster of events with comprehensive topics without the usual London-centric
locations. Essential for employment law practitioners. Membership heftily discounted for
golden-hearted people working in the voluntary sector.
www.elaweb.org.uk
Equality and Diversity Forum
Networking organisation bringing together previously disparate groups. Core issues include
age, disability, gender, race, religious and sexual orientation discrimination, all set against a
broader human rights backdrop. Consistently active with e-bulletins and frequent online
news of previous and future events. Formidable body of publications. Notables include the
long term Human Rights and Justice Seminars at London Metropolitan University.
43
www.edf.org.uk
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Ensures the Human Rights Act couples bark with bite. Where once the Equal Opportunities
Commission, the Commission for Racial Equality, and the Disability Rights Commission
paved the way for human rights monitoring in the UK, the EHRC now treads. Aimed at
ensuring protection and publication for individuals’ right to participate fully and equally, this
non-departmental government body is responsible for its own public funding but politically
independent.
www.equalityhumanrights.com
European Criminal Bar Association
Aimed at monitoring the European Union influence on national criminal justice matters, the
ECBA encourages defence lawyers to contribute, share information and make public
submissions on prospective legislation. Current projects involve the European Arrest
Warrant, Cross Border Financial Crime and the death penalty in China.
www.ecba.org/cms
Free Representation Unit
FRU - touchstone for the aspiring law student. Undertake the training course, grasp
employment or social security law and help litigants (who would otherwise be flying solo)
navigate the system. Personal support from qualified case workers. Hugely rewarding.
www.freerepresentationunit.org.uk
Global Rights
Based at a grass roots level of local activism via field offices in Asia, Africa, Latin America,
Europe and the United States, Global Rights includes volunteers as staff, fellows and
interns.
www.globalrights.org/site
Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Monthly lectures on diverse and on-the-pulse topics, delivered by in-the-know practitioners,
plus a great publication, Socialist Lawyer.
www.haldane.org/
Housing Law Practitioners Association
Heavily involved in responding to legislative proposals for housing law, the social justice
aspect of housing needs no drum roll. Essential for practitioners representing homeless and
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vulnerable tenants, HLPA facilitates information sharing between members in addition to
campaigning.
www.hlpa.org.uk/
Howard League for Penal Reform
Current campaigns include ‘Community Sentences Cut Crime’, ‘Real Work in Prison’ and the
obvious ‘Prison Overcrowding’. Independent and pro-active, the Howard League offers one
internship each year and has extensive support for students interested in establishing a
society at their university come September.
www.howardleague.org/
Human Rights Lawyers Association
Excellent, constant stream of lectures on contemporary human rights issues. Bursary
scheme for students seeking funding of related placements and helpful vacancies links to
fellow organisations. Events are free or heavily subsidised for members, students are
welcome and interaction is encouraged. Free student membership.
www.hrla.org.uk/
Human Rights Watch
Defending human rights on a country-by-country basis, the sheer breadth of the
organisation’s influence is awe-inspiring. Extensive employment and internship opportunities
for the human rights devotee.
www.hrw.org/
Immigration Law Practitioners Association
Dedicated to co-ordinating immigration law specialists through training, a robust body of
publications and political updates of Government briefings. Boasts a list of immigration
related job vacancies for those wanting to jump from the volunteering to the professional
boat.
www.ilpa.org.uk
Innocence Network UK
Students helping prisoners overturn wrongful convictions.
www.innocencenetwork.org.uk
INQUEST
Provides support and advice to people concerned about contentious deaths and navigating
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the inquest system. Targeted both towards lawyers and bereaved families. Tri-annual in
house magazine supplements individual campaigns.
www.inquest.org.uk
INTERIGHTS - the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human
Rights
Strategic litigation – focusing upon areas of human rights law (on a global stage) where
there is most potential for development or protection. This work is bolstered by publishing
and disseminating legal information to anyone in need. Amazingly comprehensive news
review, covering hoards of global human rights cases.
www.interights.org
International Commission of Jurists
Sixty eminent jurists represent different legal systems of the globe, dedicated to advancing
human rights via the rule of law. Prides itself on impartiality and objectivity and has a strong
international slant (five regional projects). Unfunded internships programme with rolling
deadline.
www.icj.org
International Federation of Human Rights (Fédération Internationale des ligues
des Droits de l'Homme)
Multi-lingual website, advocating four statutory priorities: assisting victims of human rights
abuses, mobilising member states participation, supporting local NGOs and raising
awareness. A notable thematic priority is prioritising human rights in the fight against
terrorism.
www.fidh.org
International Lawyers Project
Aims to link willing skills of solicitors and barrister and the huge need for pro bono human
rights advice and representation. Operates via a centralised database onto which interested
individuals sign up, then await a request for their help (reasonable expenses are
reimbursed). Dual international and local emphasis.
www.internationallawyersproject.org
Joint Council for the Welfare of Refugees
Aims to combat racism and discrimination in asylum and immigration cases by providing
support and advice to practitioners with Legal Service Commission contracts. Does not offer
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representation directly to applicants. Publishes reasoned responses to legislative initiatives
and organises training courses and one-off seminars.
www.jcwi.org.uk
JUSTICE
Possibly the most lawyerly of the UK's campaigning human rights organisations. A law
reform-motivated group focusing on criminal justice matters, privacy, asylum and
discrimination. Aims to see that the Human Rights Act is worth more than the paper its
written on. Get involved via an annual intern programme, ad hoc volunteering or full-time
employment.
www.justice.org.uk
Law Centres Federation
Central support body for all pro bono Law Centres, offering representation to society’s most
disadvantaged. Offers support and advice to those brave enough to attempt opening a
centre in their own community. Affiliated to the LawWorks project, now run by the Solicitors
Pro Bono Group – see below.
www.lawcentres.org.uk
Lawworks
Solicitors working for free. Yes, really. Includes support for those wanting to establish a pro
bono society within their law school (and compete for a spot in the prestigious Law School
Pro Bono Awards prize-giving), training courses, and volunteering (for practitioners and
students). Regional and London projects.
www.lawworks.org.uk
Legal Action Group
Never lagging behind, promoting equal access to justice to those who need it most.
Extensive publications and a very wide ambit (crime, housing, mental health and more), an
excellent journal and frequent specialist legal updates. Register your interest for free
updates, or join for £30 per year.
www.lag.org.uk
Legalternatives
Looking for a legal internship? Want it to exactly fit your interests and abilities? Search the
Legalternatives database, gather a wealth of organisation specific information and read
feedback from people who have personal first hand experience of the options listed.
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www.legalternatives.co.uk
Liberty
Including the Liberty Guide to Human Rights (www.yourrights.org.uk). Omnipresent,
tirelessly campaigning organisation aiming to keep civil liberties a practical aspect of modern
living, chiefly by influencing government. Student membership from just £1 per month.
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/
Medical Justice
Seeks basic medical rights for detainees and failed asylum seekers in the UK; publishes a
worrying list of case studies in which rights have been denied to individuals. Research
projects allow the Foundation to make submissions to the UN. The Habeas Corpus Project
aims to challenge the legality of indefinite detention through applications to the High Court,
fertile grounds for reform.
www.medicaljustice.org.uk
Mental Disability Advocacy Centre
Working on the human rights of children and adults with actual or perceived intellectual or
psycho-social disabilities. A European Central Asian focus. Volunteering opportunities in its
Budapest office.
www.mdac.info/
Mental Health Lawyers Association
www.mhla.co.uk/
National Critical Lawyers Group
www.nclg.org.uk/
NO2ID
This single-issue group aims to curb government’s pre-occupation with recording and
monitoring its citizens’ movements and activities. Sign up for free updates, make the No 2 ID
pledge and hope no more liberties are taken.
www.nclg.org.uk/
Oxford Pro Bono Publico
More than just a proof reading organisation: the OPBP supports those preparing submission
documents for a wide variety of purposes. Volunteers must be affiliated with the University of
Oxford and can expect to work closely with high profile NGOs and be exposed to world class
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academics.
www.law.ox.ac.uk/opbp
Prison Reform Trust
Aims to ensure prisons are just, humane and effective. Provides critical comment on
prospective prison reform and criminal justice issues. Become a friend of Prison Reform
Trust to receive their Magazine prisonReport and enjoy discounts on specialist publications.
www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk
Prisoners' Advice Service
Provides practical advice (free and confidential) to prisoners in England and Wales, aiming
to ensure they are treated according to Prison Regulations. Direct opportunities to volunteer
as an advisor or support worker.
www.prisonersadvice.org.uk/
Privacy International
Fights to protect the fragile right to privacy, usually the first casualty in the surveillance state.
Based in London, with offices in Washington DC. Campaigns include border security, antiterrorism measures, policy laundering and identity cards.
www.privacyinternational.org/
Public Law Project
PLP aims to increase public authority accountability by providing legal advice directly to
people affected. Opportunities for specialist practitioners to volunteer on the telephone
advice line and students in administrative or legal research capacities.
www.publiclawproject.org.uk/
Refugee Council
One stop shop for refugees’ needs – through four regional offices, the Council offers
representation and advice to those arriving in the UK with no support network and facing
legal proceedings in order to stay. Over 300 volunteers cover everything from football
coaching to serving lunch and teaching English.
www.refugeecouncil.org.uk
Refugee Legal Centre
A national organisation and charity offering legal advice and representation to asylum
seekers and refugees.
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www.refugee-legal-centre.org.uk/
Release
Drugs, the law and human rights: Release aims to guide those affected by drug use through
the mire. Offers both a Legal helpline and Legal Outreach project in London. The innovative
Bust Card reminding drug users of their legal rights.
www.release.org.uk/
Reprieve
Internationally campaigning for prisoners denied justice by various governments through
litigation investigation and public education. Excellently regarded US Internships allows law
students to work directly on death row projects. Wealth of experience with Guantanamo Bay
detainees.
www.reprieve.org.uk/
Rethinking Crime and Punishment
Prison has never been a hotter agenda topic – this strategic initiative of the Esmée Fairbairn
Foundation aims to implement findings about how effective our punishment system is.
Follow the Project’s progress by reading reports online.
www.rethinking.org.uk/
Rights International
Fights for protection of the rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Campaign methods include a Brief Bank, with downloadable model human rights appeal
templates, research guide and on going publications programme. Boasts the Frank C
Newham Internship programme and Law School consortium, allowing educational
establishments to be directly involved.
www.rightsinternational.org/
Rights of Women
Maintains a popular telephone helpline advising the public and publishes information sheets
on every legal issue impacting on women’s lives specifically. Sports the two hallmarks of a
support charity: free and confidential, and is currently recruiting legally qualified volunteers.
www.rightsofwomen.org.uk
Solicitors' International Human Rights Group
Supporting human rights protections by herding solicitors into a hive of voluntary activity. A
massive twelve separate working groups, including the death penalty and human trafficking.
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Online forum for members and free entry to compelling monthly speaker event, covering upto-the-minute legal issues.
http://sites.google.com/a/sihrg.org/solicitors-international-human-rights-group/Home
Social Security Law Practitioners Association
Organises meetings and other happenings for lawyers and specialist advisers working in the
social security law field.
www.sslpa.org.uk/
Statewatch
Keeps an eye on the State whilst it keeps an eye on us. Dedicated to maintaining civil
liberties and democratic standards in Europe, by campaigning and publicity. Services include
a database of 24,000 articles whilst current projects relate to CIA rendition, border wars and
asylum crimes.
www.statewatch.org/
Stonewall
Well known organisation that aims to ensure equal treatment for lesbian and gay people, by
raising awareness, campaigning against/for legal reform and providing Diversity Champions
to over 300 organisations. And counting.
www.stonewall.org.uk/
Unlock Democracy
What once was Charter 88, now different label on the same constitutionally concerned tin.
Aims to put the people power back into democracy, through campaigning for a written
constitution, elected House of Lords and Citizens’ Convention (direct democracy).
www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/
Young Legal Aid Lawyers
But you don't have to be young - just committed to legal aid and either a student or of no
more than ten years' qualification or call. Membership's free.
www.younglegalaidlawyers.org
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Organisers
Jesse Nicholls, Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA)
Martha Spurrier, HRLA
Adam Sandell, HRLA/Matrix Chambers
Gemma Hobcraft HRLA/Doughty St
Courtenay Barklem, The Law Society/HRLA
With Thanks to:
Equality and Human Rights Commission for their generous sponsorship
Leeds University for hosting the event
Glenys Hastings and her team for their organising
Liberty@leeds Student Society whose idea this was
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