Trial Magazine

Linda Lipsen and I recently traveled to Amsterdam for the Pan European Organisation of Personal Injury Lawyers conference. While there, we met with Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L) to discuss the important work they do to protect lawyers worldwide. Founded in 1986, L4L is an independent, nonpolitical, and not-for-profit organization that promotes the independence of the legal profession by supporting lawyers who are threatened or hindered in their work.

In some countries, lawyers are detained, prosecuted, and even killed just for doing their jobs and often because they challenge governments and established interests. Former executive director of L4L Judith Lichtenberg has said, “When the legal profession is not able to function independently or effectively, this gives rise to human rights violations, impunity, and injustice.”

L4L supports persecuted lawyers through organized letter-writing campaigns to governments; social media campaigns to raise public ­awareness; direct advocacy aimed at ­governments, international institutions, and bar associations; and fact-finding missions. In recognition of this work, the United Nations Economic and Social Council granted L4L special consultative status in 2013—a status granted to nongovernmental organizations that can make a valuable contribution to the council’s work promoting human rights and the rule of law worldwide.

Whether raising awareness of the Turkish government’s prosecution of human rights lawyers, reporting to the United Nations about alleged state-sponsored killings of lawyers in the Philippines, or conducting fact-finding missions in Colombia, L4L fights for embattled lawyers everywhere to ensure an independent legal profession that can give a voice to the voiceless.

AAJ fights to preserve the integrity of our civil justice system and protect our clients’ right to trial by jury. We know that independent trial lawyers are critical to ensuring the system functions as it should. How could justice ever be served otherwise?

Our belief in justice for all should not end at the U.S. border. What happens there matters here.

For now, the civil justice system and the independent legal profession we sometimes take for granted here remain intact, but our belief in justice for all should not end at the U.S. border. What happens there matters here.

Here’s how we can help our international colleagues who are at risk. L4L provides opportunities for lawyers to join social media and letter-writing campaigns. Please visit https://lawyersforlawyers.org to subscribe to its monthly ­newsletter and stay updated, or email info@lawyersforlawyers.nl to get involved.

As trial lawyers, we often represent vulnerable people who are outmatched by powerful interests. In solidarity, I believe we have a duty to our fellow lawyers in seemingly hopeless situations, facing persecution by governments and other entrenched interests. Their struggle is our struggle.

Bruce H. Stern is a shareholder at Stark & Stark in Lawrenceville, N.J. He can be reached at bruce.stern@justice.org.