The project was called “Legal Advisers as Attorneys of the Applicants before the European Court of Human Rights”. It was held under the auspices of the President of the National Chamber of Legal Advisers, Maciej Bobrowicz. Additionally, the program was supported by the Information Office of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. As a result nearly 500 legal advisers have been trained during the meetings in all District Chambers of Legal Advisers in Poland.

The goal of the project was to improve the quality and effectiveness of applications to the European Court of Human Rights lodged by Polish citizens (about 90% out of them are being rejected due to the inadmissibility). Furthermore, the program was aiming at real implementation of the provisions of the Convention into Polish law. Proper knowledge of human rights protection standards of the Convention and  Court’s judgments will definitely contribute to the presence of those standards in the Polish legal reality.

Each training was conducted by a lawyer of the Court in Strasbourg as well as by the expert of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. This method enabled to confront the judgments of the Court and the European human rights standards with the real legal problems that occurs in  Poland. This training was also a great opportunity to analyze the most important judgments in Polish cases (e.g. Tysiąc v. Poland, Bączkowski and others v. Poland,  Rachwalski and Ferenc v. Poland).

Lecturers from the European Court of Human Rights:

  • Ireneusz Kondak (Registry of the European Court of Human Rights),
  • Krzysztof Kosowicz (Registry of the European Court of Human Rights),
  • Magda Krzyżanowska-Mierzewska (Registry of the European Court of Human Rights),
  • Łucja Miara (Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe),
  • Monika Zacny (Registry of the European Court of Human Rights).

Team of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights:

  • dr Adam Bodnar,
  • Maciej Bernatt,
  • Łukasz Bojarski,
  • Dominika Bychawska-Siniarska,
  • Maria Ejchart,
  • dr Anna Śledzińska-Simon.

Michał Jagielski was the project coordinator on behalf of the Foundation.

Furthermore, the seminar summarizing the project is going to be held in Warsaw on 16 September 2010. The program of the meeting will be closely linked to the topics presented during the trainings. It will also allow to exchange experience concerning practical dealing with the Convention by all participants.

People interested in bringing an action before the European Court of Human Rights often have problems in finding an attorney wishing to represent their interests in proceedings before the international judicial authority. Therefore, the conference will also provide an opportunity to indicate that legal advisers have sufficient knowledge to effectively represent applicants before the European Court of Human Rights.