Education Law and Human Rights
Human Rights Casework and Consultancy
At Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP we have a long established tradition of undertaking domestic and international human rights work. The firm enjoys close links with the internationally recognised Human Rights Centre based at the University of Essex. The firm’s managing partner Tony Fisher is a member of the Law Society’s International Human Rights Committee.
Following in the firm’s human rights tradition, Yvonne Spencer frequently advises clients on a range of test cases and human rights issues. Recently she has advised UK clients about parental rights of same sex couples, the religious and philosophical convictions of non-resident parents, the right to continuing education for former serving youth offenders, and the right to a fair trial before the Inland Revenue Commissioners.
In the past Yvonne has undertaken human rights work relating to social welfare reform in Romania and Tajikistan. In Romania as part of a DfID funded project she advised the Government of Romania on the development of a child protection system to prevent high numbers of children entering the country’s state-run orphanages. In Romania she also worked with a group of UK experts to establish a national inspection system of children’s and vulnerable adults’ social services. These activities formed the basis of the British Government’s programme of technical assistance to the Romanian Government to assist with the EU human rights requirements for pre-accession States.
In Tajikistan on behalf of UNICEF she assisted a group of government ministers and local experts conduct a national survey and country analysis report on the plight of disabled children and their families. This work enabled the Tajik government comply with the recommendations made by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in its country report. Yvonne has spoken at a number of national and international conferences on various aspects of international human rights.
Contact details: Yvonne Spencer 01206 835241, yspencer@fjg.co.uk