HRLA aims to increase knowledge and understanding of human rights and to aid their effective implementation within the UK legal framework and system of government.
HRLA Objectives
HRLA is a forum for those involved in the law and legal professions to discuss human rights issues. Our principal objective is to protect and promote human rights in the United Kingdom. We aim to increase knowledge and understanding of human rights and to aid their effective implementation within the UK legal framework and system of government. We aim to further research, education and training in the areas of human rights law and practice, and facilitate the exchange of views between specialists from different areas of expertise and the wider legal community. The HRLA is an apolitical, specialist lawyers association that deals exclusively with human rights law.
HRLA Ethos
Essential to the effective guarantee of human rights is the obligation not he part of government to promote and protect them. Government is vital to the delivery of human rights, as are human rights defenders. Ultimately, human rights are unlikely to be realised in the absence of independent courts and tribunals. HRLA includes all involved in the delivery of human rights within its activities. HRLA believes in the promotion of the rule of law and the guarantee of human rights through law. HRLA:
is inclusive and balanced;
reflects the full range of views and legal opinion of those committed to human rights;
where appropriate, is critical and constructive; and
is open and accessible to all groups of practitioners and those involved in the law who are interested in the promotion of human rights.
Education & Training
HRLA is committed to empowering the next generation of human rights defenders through education and training.
HRLA recently partnered with the Bar Human Rights Committee of England & Wales (BHRC) on a one-day virtual seminar, ‘Human Rights Careers, Skills & Values’, which welcomed leading practitioners working in human rights sharing valuable expertise and insight into how law students and early career lawyers can get involved in human rights advocacy. The day’s discussions are now available for viewing on YouTube across four episodes.
HRLA is proud to support the University of Exeter Law School’s Prize for Constitutional & Administrative Law, which is awarded annually to the first-year student with the highest average in the module. HRLA is also working with human rights academics to deliver an inspiring series of virtual events showcasing innovative approaches to human rights law teaching and training. Please visit the HRLA website regularly or sign up for the mailing list for further updates, events and opportunities within the Legal Education & Training programme.
For further information on HRLA’s Legal Education & Training work, or to propose a new collaboration for law students or early career lawyers interested in human rights, please get in touch with Dr Louise Loder, HRLA Executive Committee Member and Legal Education & Training Lead.
Bursaries
The HRLA organises a human rights Bursary Scheme annually offering fully funded placements at leading human rights organisations. In 2024, HRLA partnered up with JUSTICE, the leading human rights charity, and 5 Essex Chambers, a leading human rights set/ barristers’ Chambers. The scheme is designed to support those who have a passion for human rights law and would not otherwise be able to afford to undertake a placement.
Junior Lawyers Committee
The Junior Lawyers Committee arrange events for all those pre-pupillage and pre-training contract. We run three core projects aimed at providing experience to aspiring human rights lawyers and insight into a career in human rights: the Lord Kerr Essay Competition, the Judicial Review Moot Competition, and HRLA annual Career Days which are organised to bring together researchers, practitioners and campaigners to discuss how different sectors of the human rights legal profession can work together to achieve change. Through panel discussions and break-out sessions, these events explore how research, legal advice, litigation, advocacy and other techniques can be used to promote human rights at the local, national, regional and international levels. Speakers and guests also discuss the practicalities of entering the human rights legal profession, and practitioners offer practical tips and insights.
About the HRLA Judicial Review Competition | The Judicial Review Competition is an annual competition run by the Young Lawyers’ Committee. The competition is open to law students throughout the United Kingdom. It involves teams of two submitting paper applications for permission to judicial review. From the applicants 8 teams are chosen to make an oral application for permission at a London Chambers before human rights practitioners. The two teams who are awarded the highest scores for their oral permission application go on to compete in the final, which involves the substantive judicial review. The Final is judged by eminent human rights barristers and members of the judiciary.
About the Lord Kerr Essay Competition | Lord Brian Francis Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore, PC, was a Northern Irish barrister and a senior judge who was Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and then a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. At the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving Supreme Court Justice and the last original member of the Court. Lord Kerr was an energetic courtroom interrogator who became an ardent defender of individual citizens’ human rights. He was a progressive figure whose rulings advanced the rights of women and children and resolved controversies from the Troubles. He was most proud of the court’s 2018 ruling that eventually led to the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland. With other justices, he concluded that the Northern Ireland assembly’s law on abortion was incompatible with human rights. Following his passing, the Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA) received a gift donation from his son, Patrick Kerr to create an opportunity that celebrates the formidable legal career that Lord Kerr had through his influential judicial understanding of human rights and the law. From this gift, the HRLA and the Junior Lawyers’ Committee (YLC) have created an essay competition that focuses on a contemporary human rights issues.
