The Human Rights Lawyers Association was pleased to partner with the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales on a virtual seminar event as a follow up to the ‘Human Rights Careers, Skills & Values’ event jointly hosted in November 2023. Watch the seminar on YouTube here.
Through a half-day programme of intensive but insightful and interactive sessions, ‘Skills for Human Rights Practice’ was co-chaired by HRLA Chair Joe Middleton KC and BHRC Vice-Chair Jo Cecil KC, and aimed to support the development of confidence, community and competency among junior members of the legal profession, with content specifically designed to help early career practitioners, pupils, trainees and law students skill up in key areas that support advanced, human-centred advocacy approaches to human rights practice. Speakers were drawn from the Executive Committees and member networks of BHRC and HRLA, as well as valued contacts from the legal profession, from NGOs and higher education.
The half-day seminar took place on 27 November 2024 (12:00 – 16:00 UK time) and welcomed members of BHRC and HRLA, UK and international law students (including undergraduates and postgraduate / postdoctoral researchers), trainee solicitors, pupil barristers and early- to mid-career solicitors and barristers who are already working in or are interested in moving into human rights practice, or more deeply embedding a rights-based approach within their legal and professional practice in general.
Speakers included:
Lui Asquith, Vice Chair of HRLA
Kirsty Brimelow KC, Vice Chair Elect of the Bar Council & Head of the International Human Rights Team, Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers
Jo Cecil KC, Vice Chair of BHRC & Barrister at Garden Court Chambers
Joe Middleton KC, Chair of HRLA
Amrit Kaur Dhanoa, Chair of the Bar Council’s Young Barristers’ Committee of England and Wales
Philip Rule KC, Barrister & Head of the Public Law Group, No 5 Chambers, HRLA Executive Committee
Rachel Barnes KC, Barrister at 3 Raymond Buildings, Executive Committee Member, BHRC
Haydée Dijkstal, Barrister at 33 Bedford Row & Member of the Executive Committee of BHRC
Zoe Harper, Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers
Jack Dingley, Pupil at Kenworthy’s Chambers and former Head of Casework at Manuel Bravo Project
Oliver Jackson, Barrister at 11KBW & HRLA Executive Committee
Shoaib M Khan, Barrister and Solicitor-Advocate, Vice Chair of the Human Rights Lawyers Association
Samia Yaqub, ILPA Wellbeing Group, Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association
Josephine Fathers, Barrister at Garden Court Chambers & BHRC Executive Committee
George Grammer-Taylor, Trainee Solicitor at Clyde & Co & Academic Committee Member, Client Interviewing Competition for England and Wales
Harj Narulla, Barrister in climate law and litigation, Doughty Street Chambers
Dr Felicity Gerry KC, International King’s Counsel, Libertas Chambers
Vicki Prais, Human Rights Lawyer & Academic, HRLA Executive Committee
Dr Debra Long, International Human Rights Policy Manager, The Law Society.
A report will be jointly published by BHRC and HRLA in due course, and the recordings of the panel discussions are now available on BHRC’s YouTube channel here.
For further information on HRLA’s Education & Training initiatives, please contact Dr Louise Loder (HRLA Executive Committee Member).
