Assistant Lawyer (Italian Law)
Council of Europe
Strasbourg, FR
About this role
The European Court of Human Rights is seeking an Assistant Lawyer to join the Registry under the Junior Professionals Programme. The role involves assisting senior staff with legal correspondence and drafting decisions for cases related to the Italian legal system.
- Examine and process applications in prima facie inadmissible cases and standard legal matters.
- Draft legal decisions, minutes, reports, and other official documents in English or French.
- Attend Court sessions to present applications and support experienced case lawyers with Chamber cases.
Listing details
- Status
- Open
- Application deadline
- 22 July 2026
- Posted
- 1 July 2026
- Last checked
- 14 July 2026
- Official listing title
- Assistant Lawyer - Italian Law
Classification
- Contract type
- Fixed term119 open roles
- Grade / level
- B31 open role
- Career stage
- Entry-level professional107 open roles
- Function
Requirements
- Languages required
- Italian2 open roles
- Citizenship / nationality
- Nationals of member countries143 open roles
- Years of experience
- 0+ years680 open roles
- Degree requirement
- Professional degree8 open roles
Salary and benefits
- Salary
- EUR 31,206–49,086 per year
Description
Type of contract
Fixed-term appointment (Junior professional)
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 staff 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 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 Italy ("Laurea Triennale in scienze giuridiche" and "Laurea specialistica" or "Magistrale in giurisprudenza" (5 years)); the law degree must have been obtained in Italy;
• 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 Italy or in international Organisations on tasks also related to national law;
• 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 Italian (first language level).
You must also:
• 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 35 years of age at the closing of the deadline for submission of applications for this vacancy notice.
Your application must 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 - Analysis and problem solving
• Operational - Drafting skills
• Operational - Concern for quality
• Interpersonal - Teamwork and co-operation
• Professional and technical expertise:
• thorough knowledge of the Italian legal system and ability to handle cases arising in other jurisdictions;
• knowledge of European Union law and of international law.
Desirable competencies
• Operational - Results orientation
• Operational - Learning and development
• Interpersonal - Adaptability
What we offer
This job vacancy is published within the framework of 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 (CET/CEST). 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 talents@coe.int, 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 talents@coe.int.