What does a Human Rights Lawyer do?

Human rights lawyers work largely revolves around enforcing and protecting the rights set out by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Lawyers began to specialise in this area after the Human Rights Act 1998 came into force in 2000.

In this article we’ll examine the work of a human rights lawyer, as well as

What exactly is Human Rights Law?

In the simplest terms Human Rights Law protects our rights as human beings. Human rights are effectively the basic liberties people possess from birth to death, regardless of how they live their lives. As a result, Human Rights law covers both people who’ve never broken the law as well as criminals.

The purpose of human rights law is to ensure the law will treat all citizens equally. This includes legislation designed to ensure freedom of speech and protections against discrimination.

What do human rights lawyers do?

In the simplest terms a human rights lawyer is an attorney specialising in issues relating to human rights law. Often this includes matters like dignity, civil rights, equality, and freedom of speech.

Human rights is one of the broadest areas of the law and because of this the responsibilities of human rights lawyers vary a lot. Some of the tasks human rights lawyers end up taking on include,

• Advising clients and ensuring they have full knowledge of their rights
• Advocating on the behalf of the victims of human rights violations
• Making sure agreements are implemented properly
• Negotiating with the lawyers who represent other parties
• Taking with their clients and gathering up witness statements
• The research of previous cases
• Writing up legal documents for cases

What areas are covered by human rights?

Human rights lawyers sometimes specialise in specific types of human rights. This includes,

• Domestic Abuse
• Immigration rights
• International human rights
• LGBTQ issues
• Living conditions
• Prisoners’ rights
• Racial discrimination
• Refugee rights
• Worker’s rights

This is only a small selection of the areas which human rights lawyers work in.

What qualifications do you need to become a human rights lawyer?

There are no specific qualifications for becoming a human rights lawyer; this work is part of the broader legal system, so to work in human rights as a lawyer you will need to first become a lawyer.

You will need to either be a solicitor or barrister and then go on to take up cases regarding human rights.

This means there’s a variety of options in terms of qualifications and degrees you can take to qualify. The standard approach tends to be a law degree (or alternate degree) followed by the Graduate Diploma in Law.

After this you will be able to take the Legal practice course which is followed by a two-year training contract. During the completion of this you’ll be able to undergo the Professional Skills Course which will enable you to join the Solicitors Regulator Authority’s roll of solicitors.

There are other potential pathways to becoming a lawyer, but this is the most typical approach there is.

What skills are needed to become a human rights lawyer

Work as a human rights lawyer requires a lot of skill. Some of the abilities expected of a human rights lawyer include the following.

• Academic skills: The qualifications required to become a lawyer are academically demanding and you will need excellent grades to get onto a law course. Furthermore, you will be dealing with a huge number of documents and material in your duties and will need to be able to research and write these accurately.
• Working under pressure: Work as a lawyer can involve a huge amount of pressure and you’ll often have to work very long hours.
• Research abilities: You are going to have to examine previous cases and materials on a regular basis.
• Debate and negotiation skills: As a lawyer the last thing you will want is for a case to go to court; you will be aiming to negotiate a settlement. In the case you do end up dealing with matters in the court, you’ll want to be able to properly argue your points.
• Problem-solving skills: You will require excellent analytical skills to solve and understand legal problems facing your client.
• Written Communication skills: You will need to be clearly communicate when it comes to legal documents and other materials.

Salary for Human Rights Lawyers

The typical salary for human rights lawyers varies depending on whether you are working for a firm or working for another organisation. There’s other important factors like whether you are based in the UK and the level of work you are doing.

Typically, solicitors earn around £25,000 when they first qualify. Overtime this is likely to increase. Some of the highest wages per annum for human rights lawyers are well over £100,000.

Career Prospects for Human Rights Lawyers

Human rights legal experts have a significant range of options for career prospects. Human rights lawyers can work anywhere in the world as part of a huge number of different organisations, including NGOs, private firms, and even governments.

As a human rights lawyer you can choose to specialise and there are a variety of areas you can enter.

When to wind up a company

If your company is facing financial difficulties and there is no viable plan to restore profitability it may need to be dissolved through the process of liquidation.

There is more than one way to liquidate a company and the route forward will depend on a number of factors including whether it is solvent or insolvent at the moment that the process begins and whether or not directors agree that liquidation is required.

If they do, voluntary liquidation is possible, where an insolvency professional is brought to sell any remaining assets following a majority vote. If they do not, creditors can attempt to reclaim the money they are owed by forcing liquidation through the courts in the form of a winding up order.

Members’ Voluntary Liquidation (MVL)

Members’ Voluntary Liquidation involves the appointment of a liquidator following an Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders, where more than 75% vote in favour of winding up the company.

A declaration of solvency must be signed by directors stating that the company is capable of repaying all debts within one year of the liquidation date.

The liquidator that is appointed following the instigation of the MVL process is responsible for selling the remaining company assets.

The money from these sales will be used to repay creditors in full. Any additional funds will then be split amongst the company’s shareholders.

A Professional Insolvency Practitioner should be used to guide you through the process and ensure it is as smooth as possible.

Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation (CVL)

If your company is insolvent and will be unable to meet repayments to creditors then Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation may be the only realistic way forward.

Similarly to Members’ Voluntary Liquidation, CVL also involves a vote by the company directors to wind up the company but the main reason for this is to minimise the losses to creditors.

Failing to wind up an insolvent company can have serious consequences including fines, disqualification, and even a prison sentence in very extreme situations.

For this reason, as a company director it is essential that you are able to recognise when a company has no realistic future where it will be profitable. The interests of the creditors should always be put above those of directors and shareholders during the liquidation process.

The CVL process begins with shareholders agreeing to submit a winding up resolution to Companies House. A creditors meeting will then be held, at which a statement of the company’s financial position will be given.

Compulsory Liquidation

Usually the most hostile form of liquidation, and the longest, compulsory liquidation occurs when creditors who have not been paid take legal action to force the winding up of a company.

If a creditor has sent a company a statutory demand for money that they are owed and this debt is still not paid, they can apply for a winding up order.

This request will go directly to the court and if passed will result in the freezing of company bank accounts and the subsequent forced liquidation of your business.

Any assets will then be sold to repay creditors, in a similar manner to voluntary liquidation.

Avoiding a lengthy liquidation process

Compulsory liquidation tends to be a far lengthier process than voluntary due to the involvement of the court system and potential conflict between directors and creditors.

If possible, liquidation through negotiation is always preferable.

One of the main reasons for this is that waiting for creditors to issue winding up petitions can take a significant amount of time, by which point the insolvent company may be in an even worse financial position.

Creditors are unlikely to choose this option lightly either as there is a fee that they will have to pay for going down this route.

A lengthy liquidation process is also far from ideal for your employees as they are only able to claim redundancy once the company has been fully liquidated. This means that any delays will extend the time until they are paid what they are due.

To put this into perspective, voluntary liquidation where both directors and creditors agree upon the winding up of the company can be completed in a matter of a few weeks, whilst compulsory liquidation can drag on for upwards of a year in complex cases.

Another reason to avoid compulsory liquidation if possible is to avoid getting into legal difficulties. As a director one of your responsibilities is to put creditors first and if you are seen to be delaying the winding up of an insolvent company you may be judged to have failed in this regard.

The best way to prevent this and ensure that you adhere to the correct behaviours at all times throughout the Corporate liquidation process is by hiring a professional insolvency practitioner as soon as possible.