EHRAC has been running practical legal skills development programmes for human rights lawyers from Russia and Georgia for a number of years. The latest, an intensive programme of lectures, classes and meetings was held in London from 22 to 30 June. Five practising lawyers, all working on joint projects with EHRAC, attended. Three were from Memorial Human Rights Centre in Moscow and one each from the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and Article 42 of the Constitution, both in Tbilisi.
The sessions covered a variety of topics ranging from the enforcement of European Court of Human Rights judgments to a practical approach to dealing with deaths and ill-treatment in custody. There were also classes on legal English and legal administration in order to support the substantive drafting work done by the lawyers.
In addition meetings on strategic litigation were held with the UK-based NGOs, Interights and Liberty, and with the Media Legal Defence Initiative on freedom of expression issues. The final day of the programme began with a visit to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office where the participants shared information and experiences with desk officers and research analysts.
Throughout the programme the trainers were chosen for their expertise in the topics covered and included professors and barristers specialising in human rights. Feedback from the participants included:
“I really enjoyed the programme. It was beneficial to hear about the experiences of successful English barristers. It was also useful to learn how different organisations dealing with human rights issues find and select cases strategically. Participating in the programme has definitely improved my spoken English.”
“The session on developments in the Russian legal system was brilliant, very informative and very interactive. Going through the latest case law of the Russian Supreme Court was very useful in order to identify the latest trends and find out the place of the European Convention on Human Rights in the Russian legal system.”
Session on recent Russian and Georgian ECHR judgments with Prof. Bill Bowring
Legal English class with Nicole Woodbridge
Jemima Stratford, QC leads a session on drafting ECHR pleadings
