A lot of courses of study have some weaknesses. In our opinion, one of them is the theoretical burden, which means that in Germany, students hardly gain practical experience in everyday university life. That's why we, a group of students from LMU Munich, have joined forces and are actively looking for practical tasks ourselves. So anyone who feels like getting involved with fundamental and human rights is cordially invited to join in - this applies to students from all faculties!
The project
Lawyers without borders (LWOB) is an NGO based in the UK, Kenya, Tanzania and the US. The reason for the foundation was the idea to find a way to motivate lawyers worldwide for human rights work and to create a global pro bono network that guarantees the principle of access to law.
We are the student division of this NGO at LMU Munich and we work with other NGOs and organizations.
For this we can still use a lot of help!
The Student Divisions
Student divisions belong to LWOB, but are autonomous and organize themselves independently. They act as a kind of mouthpiece - not only for LWOB itself, but also to raise awareness of human rights problems and inequalities in general. A student division aims to promote critical thinking and the discussion of topics that are mostly not commonplace for young lawyers. It points to unknown international problems and broadens the horizon of students on a global level. What exactly the Student Division wants to point out is largely up to itself. The parent organization only checks whether a thematic framework is being adhered to, for which there are rough guidelines.
As the Student Division at LMU, we concentrate primarily on research. So far we have been active on the following topics:
And what exactly does the Student Division do?
First and foremost, student divisions do public relations work. They organize community empowering outreach projects that shed light on important global issues such as the rule of law and human rights. They deal with problems of the judicial systems and grievances in individual developing countries and try to create awareness for lesser known topics.
This is done in particular through events such as panel discussions, debates (formally with guests or as a discussion among students), lectures, seminars or through campaigns at the university and social media. Creating a blog or newsletter is also effective, as are career events.
In addition to all this public relations work, Student Divisions with capacity have the opportunity to support the parent organization or other NGOs in research. The Student Division then works on a larger project and uses its resources to make a concrete contribution in the fight against human rights violations. For this purpose, students take over parts of the work and gain their first practical experience.
Previous research:
What is the goal of the parent organization?
The parent organization LWOB is committed to more transparency, the promotion of knowledge and capacity structuring while not leaving anyone behind.
Specifically, this means that lawyers, judges and public prosecutors are trained locally in the developing country with seminars on human rights issues.
This training is organized by LWOB itself and carried out by their in-house lawyers or other companies. In the past, they have worked with the United Nations and major law firms such as Hogan Lovells and Linklaters, among others. Qualifications passed on to lawyers in economically less developed countries were particularly important negotiating skills through programs such as STTAT (Support Through Trial Advocacy Training) and TOT (Training of Trainers). Western pro bono lawyers are also supported and have the opportunity to continue their education as part of the PBLL (Pro Bono Law Link).
This creates a network that opens the door to human rights assistance for lawyers from Europe and the US who are interested in pro bono and shows them how and where to start.
Those affected in economically less developed countries also benefit from this network, among other things by being able to gain access to information: LWOB travels on site to hold discussions, report on conditions and collect information.
The organization has already created, categorized and translated a large number of educational materials into the respective national language so that they are accessible to everyone.
LWOB tries to involve people and to draw attention to problems, in particular it initiates development aid, which advocates help for self-help at the local level.
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