Skip to content

General Information

Vacancy number
949/2025
Recruitment type
External recruitment (international)
Type of contract
Junior professional
Posted date
18-Feb-2025
Deadline to apply
11-Mar-2025
Duty station
Strasbourg
Grade
B3
Entity
Registry of the European Court of Human Rights

Description & Requirements

Your Team

The European Court of Human Rights is the judicial body which oversees the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights in the member States of the Council of Europe. Individuals can bring complaints of human rights violations to the Strasbourg Court once all possibilities of appeal have been exhausted in the member State concerned.

The Court is divided into five sections, the composition of which is fixed for three years. Each of these sections comprises different units organised per country. You will be assigned to one of these units, which is made up of both experienced lawyers and assistant lawyers whose number varies mainly according to the number and type of cases linked to the country. Each unit also has dedicated administrative support. On arrival, you will receive comprehensive training and will be fully integrated into your unit.


Your Role

As an Assistant Lawyer, you will assist more senior members of the Registry in the preparation of correspondence with applicants and draft decisions in standard form cases. You will:

  • examine and deal with applications in prima facie inadmissible cases and in cases which can be dealt with in a standard manner;
  • draft decisions, minutes, reports, notes and other documents;
  • attend the Court’s sessions and present applications;
  • assist one or more experienced case-lawyers, where necessary, in the preparation of Chamber cases for examination by the Court.
Requirements to apply

You must:

  • hold a higher education degree or qualification equivalent to a master’s degree (2nd cycle of the Bologna process framework of qualifications for the European Higher Education Area) in law of a standard permitting access, either on the basis of qualifications or after passing a competitive examination, to the judicial administration or legal professions in Poland; the degree ("dyplom magistra prawa") must have been obtained in Poland;
  • after having obtained the relevant higher education degree in law, have a maximum of two years of relevant professional experience acquired in the legal field (preferably in the judicial service) in Poland or in international Organisations;
  • have a very good knowledge of one of the two official languages of the Council of Europe (English, French) and the ability to draft legal texts therein clearly and precisely; excellent knowledge of Polish (first language level);
  • be a citizen of one of the member States of the Council of Europe and fulfil the conditions for appointment to the civil service of that state;
  • have discharged any obligation concerning national service (military, civil or comparable);
  • not be the parent, child, stepchild or grandchild of a serving staff member of the Council of Europe;
  • be under the age of 35 years of age at the closing of the deadline for submission of applications for this vacancy notice.

Your application must also demonstrate to what extent you have the competencies listed below. To help you doing so, feel free to consult our competency framework.


Key competencies
  • Operational - Planning and work organisation
  • Operational - Drafting skills
  • Operational - Concern for quality
  • Operational - Learning and development
  • Interpersonal - Teamwork and co-operation
  • Professional and technical expertise:
    • thorough knowledge of the Polish legal system and ability to handle cases arising in other jurisdiction;
    • knowledge of European Union law and of international law.
Desirable competencies
  • Operational - Analysis and problem solving
  • Interpersonal - Communication
  • Interpersonal - Adaptability
What we offer

This job vacancy is published under the Junior Professionals Programme (limited to 4 years). You can consult the conditions of employment (salaries, allowances, pension scheme, social insurance, etc.) on the webpage What we offer. 

Applications and selection procedure

For more information on how we recruit, you can consult the page Our recruitment process. This recruitment is carried out in accordance with Articles 490 and 4100 of the Council of Europe Staff Rules. The deadline for applications is indicated in the General information section of this vacancy notice (see above) and is fixed at 23:59:59 Central European Time (CET). When applying, make sure your motivation shows how your competencies make your profile the best for the role.

Important information

As an equal opportunity employer, the Council of Europe welcomes applications from all suitably qualified people, irrespective of sex, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or social origin, disability, religion or belief. Under its equal opportunity policy, the Council of Europe is aiming to achieve gender parity in staff employed in each category and grade. At the time of appointment, preference between suitable people shall be given to the person of the gender which is under-represented in the relevant grades within the category to which the vacancy belongs.

Applicants with specific needs are encouraged to request reasonable accommodations at any stage during the recruitment process. Please contact us at [email protected], we will ensure that your request is handled.

The information published on the CoE’s careers website regarding working conditions is correct at the time of publication of the vacancy notice. Any changes to these conditions during the recruitment process will be updated on our Portal and will apply at the time of the job offer. Our career's website is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all questions you would have. Should you have remaining questions, please contact us at [email protected].