Scholarship opportunity for lawyers

Open Society Institute, Law and Health Initiative (LAHI), Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF), And Association Rights to Health, Fellowship in Law, Human Rights, and Patient Care.

The Open Society Institute Law and Health Initiative (LAHI), Open Society Georgian Foundation and Georgian Young Lawyers Assosiation are pleased to announce a one-year fellowship program for practicing lawyers and recent law graduates in law, human rights, and patient care.

Background

Legal, ethical, and human rights norms are an increasingly important component of the delivery of quality medical care.  The Open Society Institute's work on behalf of society's most marginalized persons-injection drug users, people living with HIV, sex workers, Roma and other ethnic minorities-has shown that health systems can too often be places of punishment, coercion, and violations of basic rights to consent and confidentiality, rather than places of treatment and care.  At the same time, doctors and health practitioners are often constrained in their ability to provide quality care to their patients, or are unaware of how to incorporate ethical and human rights norms into their work.  There is an urgent need to support legal and administrative remedies for individual and systemic human rights abuse in health settings, and at the same time to establish non-punitive mechanisms of incorporating normative principles into patient care.  A new generation of legal professionals with expertise in both human rights and health issues could help address this gap.
  An important LAHI project in Georgia is the development of a series of Practitioner Guides and a companion website for lawyers interested in litigating human rights cases on behalf of patients.  These are practical, how-to manuals, covering both litigation and alternative mechanisms such as ombudspersons and medical licensing bodies and examining patient and provider rights and responsibilities at national, regional, and international levels.  The Fellow will help ensure that the Practitioner Guide is current and up-to-date, coordinate and help provide trainings for lawyers and judges based upon the Guide, and work on patient-friendly versions of the Guide.
 
The purpose of the fellowship is both to help develop a new generation of lawyers with expertise in human rights in patient care issues and to increase the capacity of local NGOs interested in working in this area.  The fellowship aims to build the field of law, human rights, and patient care through trainings and the development of materials and networks.
Arrangement

Fellows will be based at an Association "Right to Health", pre-identified by LAHI and the OSGF, with an interest in expanding their work in law, human rights, and patient care.  The Fellow will have a supervisor at the NGO and also will work closely with national and international experts in this area.  Fellows, along with Georgian Young Lawyers Assosiation will participate in an orientation and joint activities.  This fellowship will begin in February 2011.  It will be a one-year fellowship with the option to renew for a second year.

Responsibilities  

Fellows will have the following responsibilities:
    Coordinating updates to the Practitioner Guide.  This entails:
    Staying current on law, human rights, and patient care legislation, International and National court cases, and policy developments
    Collecting comments and feedback on the Practitioner Guide
    Collecting practical examples and making recommendations to enhance the Practitioner Guide
    Working closely with the local law and health website coordinator on materials relevant to the Practitioner Guide
    Coordinating and helping to provide trainings for lawyers and judges based upon the Practitioner Guide
    Helping prepare patient-friendly versions of the Practitioner Guide with a focus on marginalized populations
Fellows may additionally be asked to assist the host NGO with projects in the area of law, human rights, and patient care.  Fellows will also be required to submit monthly reports on their activities.
 Qualifications  
The Fellow should have the following qualifications:
    A recent law degree
    Excellent legal research skills and experience
    Knowledge of International Law and Human Rights
    Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and the relevant local language
    Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
    Computer literacy
    Some experience working with NGOs and vulnerable and marginalized populations
    Particular interest in human rights in patient care
 To Apply
  If interested, please e-mail a curriculum vitae and short letter outlining your experience and interests in this fellowship to nkiknadze@osgf.ge and metreveli@gyla.ge(please use both emails) no later than 15:00 pm, January 28, 2011. Please indicate "Fellow 2009" in the e-mail subject line.  All materials should be submitted in English.  A short list of candidates will be selected for interviews.
 
For more details please contact to Nina Kiknadze
Open Society Georgia Foundation
Tel: +(99532) 25 05 92,+(99532) 25 04 63,
E-mail: nkiknadze@osgf.ge