Human rights lawyers are some of the most specialist and highly trained lawyers in the world. They are tasked with ensuring that their clients have their most basic fundamental social, economic, political, and cultural rights upheld, and that any breaches are met with the full force of the justice system.
If you are training as a lawyer currently or considering going down this path in the future the time will come when you need to decide what sort of lawyer you wish to be. From criminal law to family law there are a whole host of different areas of the law to choose from, and each poses its own unique challenges that trainee lawyers must learn to tackle.
If you are considering a career as a human rights lawyer you have to be confident that you have the skills required to be successful in this highly emotional high stakes area of the law.
Most human rights lawyers are not in the job for the money, and can often earn significantly less than criminal or corporate lawyers, often taking cases pro bono. However, the rewards from this career can be huge making a real difference to the lives of your client and ensuring that we all have the same basic human rights that make up the basis of any humane society.
Still want to be a human rights lawyer? If so, here are eight practical tips for building a career in the sector:
Get a broad understanding of the law
Human rights lawyers not only need to know human rights law inside out, they also need a broad understanding of general law and as many different areas of law as possible. Many human rights lawyers have already worked as a lawyer for many years before specialising in human rights.
Find the right work experience
Law is an increasingly competitive sector and getting a degree is no longer a sure-fire way to guarantee yourself a job in the area you want. You need to constantly be on the lookout for any work experience that will help you to stand out from the crowd and if you can find an internship or similar at a firm that deal with many human rights cases this is a fantastic place to start.
Don’t limit yourself to human rights law alone, however, when seeking out training opportunities, any real-life legal experience really will be incredibly valuable when applying for roles in the future.
Consider non-law related experience
In most areas of law, legal firms and lawyers are the start and end when it comes to relevant work experience opportunities. Human rights law is a little different, however, and NGOs, think tanks, and other organisations involved in the research about or maintenance of human rights across the world provide excellent learning opportunities.
Find a reliable source of income
As mentioned above, human rights lawyers are often paid a lot less than other types of lawyer. If your passion is in helping others, this might not worry you too much but in order to be able tio take on pro bono cases and sustain a career you will need to find a reliable source of income. Many humans rights lawyers balance their time between human rights cases and another, better paid, area of law such as criminal law, personal injury, or similar.
Consider a master’s degree
Many positions at the leading human rights firms, now require candidates to not only possess extensive work experience and an undergraduate degree in law, but also a masters degree. If you did a broad undergraduate degree in law, you will probably want to start specialising at this stage.
Build an online presence
Knowing the law is one thing when becoming a human rights lawyer but if you want to build a successful career you need to get your name out there and build an online presence.
This will be used by recruiters to get an idea of who you are as a person, and eventually by clients seeking legal advice.
Work on your personal skills
Human rights lawyers take on clients who are often in extremely distressing or traumatic situations and it is your job to reassure them and guide them through the process. Human rights lawyers are required to have exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, possibly more so than any other lawyer.
Build a client base
Reputation is everything in the legal profession and getting experience with clients at the earliest possible stage, not necessarily in the human rights field, is by far the best way to build yours. Not only will this lead to recommendations and testimonials, but it will allow you to learn from your mistakes in a low risk environment and ensure that when the time comes you are ready to meet all the needs of your clients.
For more information, on any of the topics mentioned in this article, visit aameranwar.co.uk today, a leading human rights law firm.