
Advocating for Law Reform
Example Project:
Shearman & Sterling LLP assisted OSJI by summarising freedom of expression cases heard by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) advocates law reform to safeguard the protection of human rights. OSJI perceived that the ECHR appeared to require unusually strict controls on journalists that limited their freedom of expression.
Shearman & Sterling LLP assisted OSJI by summarising the cases, the summaries will be used to prepare third party interventions to the ECHR.
Robert Skilbeck, Litigation Director at OSJI, wrote:
“The assistance of pro bono lawyers is invaluable to the work of the Justice Initiative to litigate human rights issues in ground-breaking cases throughout the world. With the support of such a huge network of lawyers we can increase our capacity to work on more issues and for more victims of human rights violations.”
Saralyn Cohen, Director of Pro Bono at Shearman & Sterling LLP, added:
“Shearman & Sterling LLP is honoured and pleased to assist the Open Society Justice Initiative through the match made by A4ID. The project allows Shearman & Sterling attorneys from our offices around the world to collaborate on a meaningful project. The Firm’s attorneys appreciate the opportunity to play a small role in the access to justice and rule of law work that OSJI does from its position of leadership.”