Human Rights Litigation Practice Notes: Legal Writing for Human Rights Claims

This is the first in a series of practical guides written by human rights lawyers at the Open Society Justice Initiative on preparing and filing a human rights claim.

This note on legal writing includes tips on the process of writing complex legal filings, practical guidance on how to prepare compelling applications, and an overview of the specific technical requirements of the regional human rights jurisdictions.

Future Practice Notes will cover issues such as planning, ethics, case management, remedies, and security.

The hope is that these insights, drawn from the Justice Initiative’s involvement in scores of human rights cases around the world, will assist both national and international civil society organizations to file persuasive human rights claims before the regional human rights courts and United Nations Treaty Bodies, as well as proving useful for claims in domestic courts.