Skills training for early career practitioners is a core part of the Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC)’s learning and training advocacy track, bridging the widening gap between academic knowledge and real-world practice and offering perspective and experience exchange on various aspects of practice, including client interaction and interviewing, advanced advocacy techniques, and vital communication and leadership skills. BHRC is committed to supporting our members and partner networks with opportunities to develop these essential skills for human rights practice and to build the confidence and capacity to handle complex, challenging human rights cases using a holistic, human-centred, trauma-informed approach.
The Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA) is open to all connected with the law and the legal profession who have an interest in human rights law in the United Kingdom. The Association currently has over 2,000 members including solicitors, barristers, advocates, judges, government lawyers, legal academics, legal executives, in-house lawyers, pupils, trainees and law students. HRLA exists to increase knowledge and understanding of human rights and to aid their effective implementation within the UK legal framework and system of government.
In November 2024, BHRC and HRLA were proud to partner on this event as a follow up to the ‘Human Rights Careers, Skills & Values’ seminar jointly hosted in November 2023 (recordings also available on BHRC's YouTube channel). Through a half-day programme of intensive but insightful and interactive sessions, ‘Skills for Human Rights Practice’ was designed to support the development of confidence, community and competency among junior members of the Bar and the legal profession overall, and 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. The recording of this seminar is available in two parts. For further information about this initiative, please contact Dr Louise Loder (BHRC Education & Training Lead, HRLA Executive Committee Member & Academic).