Focus Areas

The initiative will extend legal empowerment and capacity building activities to social and environmental justice activists in Latin America, Africa and Asia using existing digital resources developed by Action4Justice and Simmons & Simmons. These resources are designed to equip people on the ground with the practical tools to increase their legal knowledge and impact at a local level. 

This will be achieved through our Best Practice Forum: an online platform bringing together grassroots activists and legal specialists for peer-to-peer learning. Making use of a range of methods such as roundtables, one-to-one discussions, webinars, mock trials and legal clinics practical, we will tailor existing resources and strategies to the specific needs of activists. The platform will be supported by our extensive network of pro bono laywers, including Laywers Against Poverty, Alliance for Lawyers at Risk and Action4Justice.

This initiative will seek to focus on four main areas which need to be developed for more effective social and environmental protection.

1. Widening access to international legal protection frameworks

2. Addressing the implementation gap

3. Increasing access to coordinated and sustained pro bono support

4. A more tailored approach to legal capacity building

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This will be executed in a phased approach, developed in partnership with activists at every stage. The three main phases will centre around:

  1. An introductory series of Taster Sessions designed to gauge interest in the project and tailor future sessions to the needs of activists

  2. A Best Practice Forum to facilitate the peer-to-peer exchange of legal strategies to counter climate injustice, corporate abuse and malpractice. Using a range of methods such as roundtables, one-to-one discussions, webinars, and mock trials, the Best Practice Forum will provide an online platform for peer-to-peer learning and sharing.

  3. The establishment of a network of Regional Hubs to embed channels of communication between lawyers and human rights activists across the Global North and South.