Universal-Womens-accesss-to-justice-Publications-Practitioners-Guide-Series-2016-ENG

248 PRACTITIONERS GUIDE No. 12
change for all women, transforming abusive or negligent laws,
justice systems and policies. However, undertaking strategic
litigation effectively and ethically can be difficult.
Addressing violence against women necessarily means a
challenge to discriminatory social attitudes. Taking a case
forward can lead to a lot of pressure, critical observation and
invasion of privacy, both for lawyers and their clients.
As in any strategic litigation, there can be a disconnect
between an advocates professional responsibility to advocate
for the interests of an individual client, who may wish to
withdraw from a case, and the wider advocacy objective that
may be the sought in the litigation. If a client does wish to
withdraw from pursuing a case, it is important that the
advocate respect the woman’s wishes, even if this may be
frustrating for the advocate involved, especially where the case
has the potential to affect broad change. Important methods of
avoiding such an outcome is to ensure that open
communication about the case continues, as the case
continues, sometimes over a period of several years between
starting the case and final judgement at the international level.
If communication is severed or sporadic over a long period
during which litigation may drag on, it is very easy for clients to
lose patience, to feel unsupported, and withdraw from the case.
As a matter of professional ethics, but also for well-being of the
applicant, it is important to ensure that they are closely
involved in decisions about strategy and advocacy messages in
the case, and are not disempowered by control of their cases
being “taken away from them.”
Third party interventions
The use of third party interventions, in the form of amicus
curiae briefs and others types of expert submissions to courts
or lawyers representing the parties to a case, can be an
effective means of advancing justice without committing to the
range of responsibilities that direct legal representation may
entail. Many international and domestic courts, administrative
tribunals and quasi-judicial mechanisms have formal