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With democracy on the defensive in much of the world, what role should lawyers play in protecting human rights and advancing fundamental values? More than three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and 25 years since the founding of the International Criminal Court, litigation in the public interest has become a global phenomenon and is practiced on all continents.
What does it have to show for itself? Strategic litigation is criticized as being slow, expensive, elitist, and unresponsive to the central concerns of communities it purports to serve, but “landmark” decisions that create wide scale change are announced on a regular basis. What’s the reality? How should litigators striving to better the world understand their role and their craft in the coming years?
Susanne Baer is a judge at the German Federal Constitutional Court and is tenured professor of public law and gender studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin Law School.
Roda Verheyen is an environmental lawyer with many years of experience in international environmental law and policy and climate change campaigning in Europe.
Waikwa Wanyoike
Speaker
Waikwa Wanyoike is strategic litigation director for the Open Society Justice Initiative.
James A. Goldston
Moderator
James A. Goldston is the executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative.
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