18 June 2025 – The European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ) organised on 16 June 2025 a Conference entitled “Protecting Lawyers, preserving access to Justice”, to mark the adoption and opening for signature of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer.
The keynote speakers (Björn Berge, Deputy Secretary General; Michael O’Flaherty, Commissioner for Human Rights; Amb. Gabriel Revel, Permanent representative of Monaco and Chair of the GR-J; Amb. Patrick Engelberg, Permanent representative of Luxembourg; and Eral Knight, Chair of the CDCJ) underlined the role of lawyers to ensure effective access to justice for all, a defining feature of justice systems of states governed by the rule of law, without which democracy is undermined.
The panellists (Margaret Satterthwaite, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; Christoph Henrichs, member of the CDCJ and Chair of the former Committee of Experts on the Protection of Lawyers (CJ-AV), Laurent Pettiti from the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) and Judith Lichtenberg from the Lawyers for Lawyers Foundation) stressed the need to protect lawyers against increasing attacks which prevent them from practising freely and fulfilling their role for the good functioning of justice systems. The crucial role of professional associations in defending legal professionals both collectively and individually was also underscored.
Following the conference, the CDCJ held its 104th plenary meeting where it continued its work on a thematic review on the career and training of judges as a follow up to the Council of Europe Plan of Action on Strengthening Judicial Independence and Impartiality; a study on national climate litigation; child statelessness (revision of Recommendation CM/Rec (2009)13 on the nationality of children and a compendium of good practice on access to nationality for stateless children); and a draft recommendation on the rights of donor-conceived persons to know their origins.
Link to the Programme of the Conference “Protecting Lawyers, preserving access to Justice"
