Examples of our human rights work

Guantánamo Bay military commissions

International human rights law is an important part of our pro bono practice. We believe we can use our expertise in the field of public international law and our network of lawyers across the world to assist in the proper deliberation on issues affecting human rights.

For example, we submitted amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs to a US court and the US Supreme Court on behalf of 400 UK and European parliamentarians both in 2006 and 2007. The signatories include six former law lords, two former foreign secretaries, a former Lord Chancellor and 11 bishops. The briefs consider whether the military commissions established to try detainees held at Guantánamo Bay contravene international humanitarian and human rights law.

The case was brought by Salim Hamdan, one of a small number of Guantánamo Bay detainees designated for trial by the military commissions established by President Bush. He challenged the legality of the military commissions, claiming they contravene domestic and international law and the US Constitution and are inconsistent with the Geneva Conventions. The commissions are controversial because, among other things, defendants are not entitled to hear all of the evidence against them and evidence obtained by torture is admissible. The 2006 case was successful before the UK Supreme Court, but in late 2007 the US Supreme Court refused to hear Hamdan’s case.

Our team, which included lawyers from London, Paris and Washington, as well as our public affairs team in Brussels, prepared a brief on relevant international law issues. As well as drafting the briefs, we visited Strasbourg to obtain the support of MEPs, and a team in London, including trainees and summer visitors, enlisted the support of MPs and members of the House of Lords from all political parties.

Death penalty

We are acting for several clients facing the death penalty in the Caribbean and US. We represent Caribbean clients in their appeals to the Privy Council in London and assist local lawyers representing clients in the US with international law issues and factual investigation.

We also work closely with the charity Reprieve, established by the lawyer Clive Stafford Smith OBE. We provide the charity with office space and host the joint AMICUS and Reprieve twice yearly training sessions for lawyers intending to spend time in the US volunteering on death penalty cases.

Additionally, some of our trainee solicitors have taken the opportunity to spend time as Reprieve interns working on capital cases in the US before starting their training contracts. We currently have a future joiner working as a Reprieve intern in death penalty defence offices in New Orleans before starting his training contract.

One of our long-running pro bono clients, Krishna Maharaj has recently been successful in the first stage of his clemency application before the Florida Clemency Board. Krishna, a British citizen who spent 15 years on Florida’s death row before his sentence was overturned and he was given life imprisonment, has long protested his innocence, despite which the US courts have rejected all of Krishna’s legal appeals, leaving clemency his only hope.