STARLIGHT Programme is recruiting legal practitioners!

STARLIGHT 2023 is recruiting legal practitioners to join their training programme in 2023. If you are interested to participate in this training, please apply by 17 February 2023 23:59 CET!

What is STARLIGHT?

The Hertie School and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC), have joined forces to facilitate a more effective use of a powerful yet underused tool to protect fundamental rights in the European Union: the Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR).

The STARLIGHT project provides legal practitioners in the European Union (EU) with the skills and knowledge to apply the CFR in strategic litigation. Over a period of 12 month, participants in this capacity building programme benefit from seminars, workshops, legal clinics and networking opportunities in varying formats to accomplish two main goals:

• Applying the CFR and other EU laws in three thematic areas: rule of law, asylum/migration, criminal justice;
• Acquiring crucial skills to engage in strategic litigation at EU level, develop EU jurisprudence and promote systemic and social changes in their respective countries.

The STARLIGHT training concept

Target countries:  Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria. 

The training programme consists of various online and onsite components as well as individual projects. This course structure takes participants’ professional commitments into account while balancing these with much-needed opportunities for in-person cross-border networking and professional exchange. STARLIGHT is designed to upskill and connect around 66 experienced legal practitioners in weekly/monthly sessions over a period of 12 months. For further details on the schedule and contents of the programme, please consult their website’s Agenda&Dates section.

The learning journey begins with a cross-cutting introductory module focused on litigation in front of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). This is followed by an immersion phase of three months in smaller groups, allowing participants to deepen their strategic litigation and communication skills in one of the thematic areas.

During the immersion phase, lectures and workshop sessions will be completed by mentor-lead legal clinics that allow for an in-depth work on individual case studies. Towards the end of the training, participants convene for three days of skills workshops and networking in Berlin. The STARLIGHT cycle will then be concluded by a virtual public closing event.

Who can apply for STARLIGHT?

Candidates should meet both criteria listed below.

1. Legal practitioners with a law degree and at least three years of relevant experience, belonging to one of the following professional groups:

• Mid-career lawyers 
  working within law firms/as solo practitioners, with an existing track-record of high-quality work on fundamental rights and rule of law issues with potential for cross-European advocacy; 
• Legal staff working within NGOs in the field of fundamental rights and the rule of law, responsible for designing litigation strategies, coordinating their implementation with in-house or external litigators;
• Staff of legal clinics working on fundamental rights and rule of law cases;
• National Human Rights Institutions’ (NHRI) legal staff, involved in third party interventions, amicus curiae briefs or litigation.

 2. Practicing law or working for an NGO/legal clinic/NHRI in one of the following EU member states:

Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

How can you apply for STARLIGHT?

To submit your application please complete the following steps:

1. Create/login an account on Hertie School’s application platform.
2. Select “Executive Programmes”.
3. Continue to “STARLIGHT” and fill in your data.
4.  During the process you will be asked to submit the following information in English:
   • your personal data,
   • your CV,
   • a link to a max. 90-sec. video in which you briefly introduce yourself and explain why you are the ideal candidate to join STARLIGHT,
   • a brief description (max 300 words) of the litigation experience you have that is relevant for STARLIGHT and an example case you would like to pursue during the STARLIGHT legal clinics.
   • Motivation letter (a motivation letter helps provide further valuable insights to the reviewers) 
     • Option 1: Upload a Word document with your same answers to points a and b above  
     • Option 2: Upload a short motivation letter expanding on your answers to points a and b above and providing additional information 
5. Complete your application by 17 February 2023 23:59 CET!

Applicants will be notified about the outcome of their application by early March 2023.