Waging Justice
CFJ invites expressions of interest from professionals who wish to be selected for the TrialWatch Experts Panel. This body of eminent lawyers and human rights practitioners will be an integral part of CFJ’s effort to professionalize and scale the practice of trial monitoring by providing expert analysis of the fairness of criminal proceedings. Experts will be given access to the notes and data gathered by trial monitors and in some circumstances may be invited to serve as trial monitors themselves. They will then draft a ‘fairness report’ assessing and grading the trial according to international human rights standards. The reports, along with other data, are intended to be public and will ultimately be used to evaluate states’ justice systems on the Global Justice Ranking™, an index documenting national courts’ adherence to human rights and fair trial standards.
Experts who join the panel will be asked to commit to draft at least one report per year and to providing strategic advice on an ad hoc basis. CFJ or one of its partners will provide administrative support to Experts and they will be credited on the reports produced.
CFJ reserves the right to select lawyers to serve on the Experts Panel at their discretion and in line with the needs of the project and diversity requirements.
In order to be eligible to a member of the Experts Panel, an individual:
- Must have a law degree; and
- Must be a member in good standing of a national bar or have equivalent qualifications; and
- Must:
- Have practiced as a lawyer, judge, or prosecutor for at least five years; or
- Have been a professor of law for at least five years with a sufficient number of credible publications; or
- Have been in legal or fact-finding service with the UN, a respected regional organization, or relevant NGO for at least five years; and
- Must have substantial prior experience with fact-finding, criminal proceedings, or other relevant practice in the field of human rights.
If you are interested in applying to join our Experts Panel, please fill out the following form and upload the necessary documents after reading and determining you fulfill the requirements. Please note that expressing interest in serving on this panel does not guarantee membership.