Lawyer
Systemic Justice is looking for a new colleague who can help communities fighting for racial, social, and economic justice across Europe to build and pursue litigation projects.
Position type: full-time (4 days per week, 32-hour work week)
Duration: 12 months with possibility of extension, based on available funding and organisational needs.
Location: Remote, based within the Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, or Denmark. Candidates must have the right to work in their country of residence.
Compensation: Annual gross salary up to EUR 52.500 + up to 10% pension contribution. The salary may be adjusted down based on the cost of living in the country of the applicant, which means the salary may be lower (but not higher) than the advertised rate. Systemic Justice relies on EUROSTAT to determine cost of living rates in Europe.
About Systemic Justice
Systemic Justice works to radically transform how the law works for communities fighting for racial, social and economic justice.
We believe that those most impacted by systemic injustices should be at the centre of efforts to dismantle them through the courts. That’s why we partner with communities to co-create and co-implement litigation strategies that challenge the structures perpetuating inequality, injustice and harm.
Our approach
Strategic litigation is a powerful tool for systemic change, especially when embedded within a campaign for structural change and combined with advocacy, campaigning, and policy work. We do strategic litigation differently by:
- building the knowledge and power of communities to use the law and courts strategically in their broader pursuit of justice, on their own terms;
- centring communities and following their lead throughout the litigation process, broadening their access to judicial remedies; and
- building lasting partnerships that transform traditional power dynamics in legal support and representation.
Our legal work
There are three streams to the legal work at Systemic Justice .
1. We strengthen the capacity of community groups, organisations and movements campaigning for justice by:
- co-creating resources and tools on strategic litigation and how it can be used by communities;
- providing accessible knowledge-building and learning opportunities on strategic litigation;
- supporting communities to understand and engage with legal strategies and legal processes; and
- fostering connections between communities and legal practitioners, and supporting the learning of legal practitioners in community-centred approaches.
2. We partner with communities to develop and pursue strategic litigation cases that:
- transform how strategic litigation serves communities’ needs and campaigns;
- challenge systemic injustices;
- establish precedents and make other contributions that benefit broader movements for racial, social, economic and climate justice;
and
- build communities’ capacity to engage with legal processes and access to justice.
3. We promote doing lawyering differently within the legal field by:
- creating spaces for knowledge sharing and coordination amongst legal practitioners to foster co-learning on more equitable methods of lawyering;
- nurturing a community of practice focused on anti-oppressive approaches to strategic litigation;
- supporting the adoption of community-centred approaches to promote greater access to justice for communities, including through fostering collaboration between movements and legal professionals.
Through this integrated approach, we aim to fundamentally reshape how the law can be used as a tool for justice – moving from traditional lawyer-led strategic litigation to true partnerships with communities fighting for transformative change and restorative justice.
About the role
The Lawyer will become an additional key member of Systemic Justice ’s existing Legal team, helping ensure smooth and efficient day-to-day delivery of all three legal workstreams. The Legal team