Community of Practice

There is a growing desire within the legal field to take a more community-focused approach in litigation work. We are working on establishing a Community of Practice for litigators, legal practitioners, and litigating organisations working on cases concerning racial, social, and economic justice issues in Europe.

We want this to be a truly participatory, open partnership. The community will be a space to share ideas, experiences, and best practices, and support each other towards individual and shared goals. It is a means of pooling valuable learning and creating new knowledge. It can also strengthen the sense of shared values and shared purpose in the work we are all trying to do.

We will invite participants to:

Reflect on the power imbalances that currently exist between lawyers/litigating organisations and the communities or groups they seek to represent.
Share knowledge, resources, strategies or working methods for addressing these imbalances.
Share knowledge and experience drawn from their case work, creating an environment of mutual support between practitioners working in these areas.

The aim is for the community to build equitable working models that can be shared widely, which will strengthen community-driven litigation overall. It will also strengthen strategic litigation for racial, social, and economic justice in Europe by offering legal practitioners working on such cases day-to-day an opportunity to connect, educate themselves, support each other, and build knowledge.

It is crucial that the community is a shared space, co-created by its participants. We also recognise that in order to be effective and maintain momentum, the community will need to be cultivated and facilitated to ensure participants get high value for their time and participation.

We will take the lead in establishing the community and helping set up a process for participation and the carrying out of its activities. We will then cultivate and sustain the community through:

Facilitating the activities of the community;
Encouraging participation, and helping to recruit members;
Reporting on the activities of the community, including by sharing best practices and similar resources and materials that have been co-developed by the community; and
Organising and managing community events.

In October 2022, the community will have its first in-person meeting to set the direction for its further work. The community will initially have a limited participation scope as it establishes itself, and we plan for its membership to grow further later in 2023. If you want to get in touch about the community of practice, you can do so here.

By the end of 2022, we will have:

Invited initial members to the community;
Surveyed and held consultations with invited members;
Held one in person meeting with the community;
Established a terms of engagement/ agreement between community members on participation;
Co-created a one-year plan for the community; and
Initiated first activities of the community.

Community of Practice

By the end of 2022, we will have:

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