Here at Junior Lawyers Against Poverty we want to ensure that law students across the world are given opportunities to use their legal skills to fight for better access to justice and to strengthen the rule of law. We want these opportunities to be available throughout a legal career, from law school through to partnership, a general counsel position or a position in the judiciary.
Opportunities to improve access to justice and the rule of law exist, whether you choose to be an international human rights lawyer, a commercial lawyer, or anything in between.
On this page you can find tips, guidance and advice on how to develop a career improving access to justice, whatever your background and whoever your employer might be.
Online Resources
Educating yourself on Human Rights issues:
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
- Links to online courses on specific Human Rights issues: https://www.humanrightscareers.com/courses/
- A website entitled ‘A Pocket Guide to Human Rights’ providing information on issues such as Disability Rights, Asylum Law and Children’s Rights: https://humanrightsau.blogspot.com/
- An article by Emmaline Soken-Huberty entitled ’10 Human Rights Issues of the Future’: https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/human-rights-issues-of-the-future/
- The Bonavero Institute of Human Rights (University of Oxford) website. This includes links to publications by Human Rights academics and a variety of webinars: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/centres-institutes/bonavero-institute-human-rights
Aspiring for a career in Human Rights Law:
- An introduction to the study of Human Rights Law produced by the University of Law (UK). This highlights the distinct subsections within Human Rights Law and the various professional options there are if you are looking to practice in the UK: https://www.law.ac.uk/employability/legal-practice-areas/human-rights-law/
- An introduction to Human Rights Law produced by ‘The Lawyer Portal’ which includes some recommended reading: https://www.thelawyerportal.com/careers/areas-of-law/human-rights-law-how-to-become-a-human-rights-lawyer/
For aspiring law students
Advice from current members of the Junior Lawyers Against Poverty network:
For current law students
Mentoring with Lawyers Against Poverty:
We run a mentoring programme for law students who are currently struggling to access careers advice for work in areas relevant to our work in access to justice and poverty eradication. This includes careers in human rights law, refugee law, strategic and/or public interest litigation, environmental law or sustainability.
If you are interested in being a mentor or a mentee, please send us an email to hear more about how this mentoring scheme works. Our email address is: juniorlap@lawyersagainstpoverty.org