Legal tools for early access to justice in Europe

Recognising that in most European countries, criminal suspects do not enjoy full and unrestricted access to legal assistance during the initial stages of a criminal investigation, the Open Society Justice Initiative developed and translated template briefs. Here is the announcement from the Legal Aid Reformers Network:

The Open Society Justice Initiative believes that litigation can be used to reinforce the fundamental human rights that underpin an open and just society.

In order to help lawyers working on human rights issues, we are developing a series of “template briefs” which offer the legal framework for litigation that seeks to bring domestic justice systems and practice in line with international legal standards.

Our first template brief focuses on early access to legal representation in Europe for people accused or suspected of crimes. It provides the current European and international legal standards, and we encourage lawyers to use the research and arguments in this brief to support domestic litigation.

Read more about the legal tools for early access to justice in Europe here.