The International Legal Foundation

🌍 Opportunity Available: Join the ILF’s International Fellows Program in Tunisia or Kenya! 🌍 The ILF is seeking experienced legal aid lawyers and public defenders to mentor local lawyers, strengthen legal aid systems, and support justice reform. Fellows will provide hands-on training, assist with casework, and engage in pretrial litigation to improve access to justice for vulnerable communities. Placements start in January 2025, with transportation, housing, and a modest stipend provided. Apply now to make a global impact! More details: https://lnkd.in/eyGq3FD

🌍 We're hiring: Join the ILF as our MENA Program Director! 🌍 The International Legal Foundation (ILF) is seeking a passionate and experienced Program Director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This critical role will focus on advancing our public defender programs in Tunisia and the West Bank, with the potential to expand into other countries in the region. The Program Director will lead efforts to build a culture of defense through hands-on skill-building, mentoring, and strengthening legal aid services. This role can be based in New York, Tunisia, or the West Bank, with hybrid or remote options. 📩 Submit your resume and cover letter to jobs@theilf.org. 💡 Learn more about the role: https://lnkd.in/eyGq3FD The ILF is committed to antiracism, equity, and diversity. We strongly encourage system-impacted individuals and candidates of all identities to apply. Let’s build a world where justice is accessible to all.

Thank you to Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung New York for hosting us for this important discussion and to all who attended! Cooperation between government and civil society is critical for the advancement of equal access to justice for all.

🚨 Job Opportunity: Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Associate – Asia 🌏  The International Legal Foundation (ILF) is seeking a dedicated M&E professional to join our team in Asia! If you’re passionate about social justice and data-driven impact, this role is for you. As the M&E Associate, you’ll help measure the success of ILF's legal aid programs, ensuring marginalized populations receive quality legal representation. You’ll develop M&E systems, analyze data, and contribute to donor reporting, supporting our mission to guarantee access to justice worldwide.  Apply by October 31, 2024, to the email provided in the job announcement. https://lnkd.in/eyGq3FD #Hiring #MonitoringAndEvaluation #JusticeForAll #DataAnalysis #SocialImpact #LegalAid 

The ILF’s new project in Kenya to measure the impact of quality legal aid on pretrial detention and justice outcomes is underway! In July, the ILF and our partners Justice Initiatives Global completed an intensive orientation and training program for the lawyers, paralegals, and social workers who will be providing holistic legal aid services during the project. In line with the ILF’s practice principles outlined in Measuring Justice: Defining and Evaluating Quality for Criminal Legal Aid Providers, the curriculum incorporated substantive training on legal concepts and practice standards with extensive hands-on application through presentations of written and oral arguments, practicing interviewing techniques, and developing standards and checklists for client interactions. The six-week program focused on a people-centered approach to legal representation. Participants examined and practiced fundamental principles of client-centered lawyering--such as ensuring the client is empowered to participate in making legal decisions that affect their life, actively listening, and centering the client's needs and priorities--and placed them in the context of Kenyan legal practice. Participants also visited one of the local communities that the project aims to serve and held discussions with individuals and community organizations to gain a deeper understanding of the lives and experiences of people they may represent. We are grateful to our project partners Justice Initiatives Global and the Access to Justice Lab at Harvard Law School and for support from the U.S. State Department, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and U.S. Embassy Kenya. Check out Measuring Justice here: https://lnkd.in/evBHki94

#NelsonMandelaDay #NelsonMandelaRules

🇺🇳 An impactful side event today at #HLPF2024, hosted by the United States 🇺🇸 and moderated by NYU Center on International Cooperation (CIC) Executive Director, Ambassador Martin Kimani, on scaling #SDG16, reinforcing #AccessToJustice, and advancing democracy.  In her keynote remarks, Isobel Coleman, USAID Deputy Administrator announces the US government’s new $600,000 commitment to the Justice Action Coailtion’s data and evidence work. 🙌 🗣️ Panel discussions focused on: 🔹 National efforts to advance #AccessToJustice, including from the US, the Philippines, Rwanda, and Argentina. 🔹 The importance of inclusive data collection and evidence-based practices. 🔹 Innovative approaches to finance and scale justice initiatives. 🔹 The significance of collaboration in reinforcing democracy. 🤝 The event showcased the collaboration and commitment needed to drive meaningful change. 🌐 We're excited to see these efforts continue to advance justice and democracy worldwide!  ⚖️ #SDG16Plus #JusticeActionCoalition #AccessToJustice #NYUCIC

The ILF is excited to launch a new project in Kenya with Justice Initiatives Global and the Access to Justice Lab at Harvard Law School. The ILF together with Justice Initiatives Global, led by Shamini Jayanathan OBE and Atieno Odhiambo, and the Access to Justice Lab will measure the impact that well-trained, well-resourced, full-time public defenders working on interdisciplinary defense teams can have on reducing pretrial detention rates when they start representing people before their first court appearance and within 24 hours of arrest. The project will also look at the impact of legal representation on justice outcomes, trust in the system, and overall socioeconomic stability of justice-impacted persons. About 1/3 of the global prison population is in pretrial detention. Many people languish behind bars for months and even years awaiting trial. This unnecessary and prolonged pretrial detention undermines the effectiveness, efficiency, and legitimacy of criminal justice systems and negatively impacts justice-involved individuals, their families and communities. The project is expected to not only demonstrate the impact of qualified public defenders on reducing pretrial detention rates, but also build support for investing in the establishment of accessible, effective, sustainable and credible legal aid systems. The project will produce gold-standard research through a randomized control trial (RCT) and a guide that outlines best practices and lessons learned in implementing public defender programs that provide prompt access to high-quality, holistic legal aid services. We are grateful for the partnership of Makadara Law Court in implementing this project, as well as the cooperation of the National Legal Aid Service - NLAS, Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, and the National Council on the Administration of Justice. We hope this study will contribute to a growing body of evidence that investing in access to legal aid can address the global access to justice crisis. We are grateful for support from the U.S. State Department, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and U.S. Embassy Kenya.

Since 2001, over 100 ILF Fellows from around the world have helped transform the role of local lawyers in Afghanistan, Tunisia, Palestine, Nepal, and Myanmar. As a direct result of this critical mentorship and exchange, clients languishing in detention have been released, innocent people have been acquitted, and fellows and local lawyers together have challenged unlawful policies and practices to improve justice systems. We are currently seeking experienced criminal defense lawyers to volunteer alongside our Myanmar team. This is a short-term voluntary position. Opportunities are available through 2025, and applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/eyEUm6W #legalaid #volunteer #probono #sabbatical #lawyers #publicdefender

⚖️ Missed the first Regional Conference on Access to Legal Aid hosted in New Delhi, India? ⚖️ Read a recap of the event and the conference outcome document highlighting key recommendations from 191 participants from 51 countries across Asia, Africa, and the Pacific: https://lnkd.in/eVTuG7A4 “The goal of these conferences has always been to foster discussions that are practical as possible and rooted in day-to-day realities. To this end, the key focus of the conference was on how, in practice, stakeholders can work together to ensure the rights of people in contact with the justice system even in the face of challenges like lack of funding, lack of data and lack of trained lawyers. Practitioners and experts from civil society organizations and legal aid authorities shared their experience of implementing legal aid laws and working within the justice system. They shared real strategies that have worked, and those that haven’t covering topics including models of delivering legal aid services, sustainable funding and innovative financing models, measuring the impact of a legal aid representation; improving the quality and effectiveness of legal aid services, legal aid in civil and administrative law matters, and more...” #legalaid #accesstojustice #SDG16 #lawyers #judges