Rights Don'tDefend Themselves.
We draft the briefs. We document the abuses. We put human faces on policy failures — in every chamber where decisions are made behind closed doors.
January 12, 2009
Three lawyers, one paralegal, and a filing cabinet. The first brief was handwritten.
We were founded on a single conviction: that the gap between a law written and a law enforced is where most injustice lives.
In sixteen years we have represented 380 individuals and communities across twelve countries, filed 94 amicus briefs, and contributed to 28 changes in law or policy. Every number is a person who called us when they had no one else to call.
When the courtroom door is the only one left open.
We draft, file, and argue amicus briefs in domestic and international courts. Our legal team has appeared before the Inter-American Court, the African Commission, and eight national supreme courts. We take cases that other firms won't touch — not because they're unwinnable, but because they're unprofitable.
We filed the brief on a Thursday. The injunction was granted by Friday noon. The demolition crew stood down.
Evidence that outlives the regime that created it.
Our field researchers work in fourteen languages, operating in environments where documentation itself is an act of resistance. We archive witness testimonies, forensic evidence, and satellite imagery — building records designed to survive transitions of power and serve as the foundation for future accountability.
She said: write down that I was here. That this happened. That I told the truth. So we did.
No organization wins alone.
We maintain active coalitions with 61 partner organizations across the Global South — connecting grassroots movements to international legal mechanisms, and giving local organizers access to resources that were previously reserved for well-funded NGOs operating from Geneva or New York.
The coalition turned eight separate complaints into a single, unanswerable argument.
Changing the law so the next person doesn't need us.
Litigation wins matter. Policy change lasts. Our policy team translates case outcomes into legislative language, presenting reform proposals to parliamentary committees, UN special rapporteurs, and regional human rights bodies. Twenty-eight policies have been amended or repealed as a direct result of our work.
The law that imprisoned him was repealed fourteen months after we filed the first complaint.
"They didn't ask me to simplify what happened. They asked me to tell them everything, in my own words, in my own language. Then they translated it into law."
Amara Diallo
Client, Conakry — 2022
"I've worked with advocacy organizations on four continents. Advocate is the only one I've seen change a law in under two years from first filing."
Prof. James Ochieng'
Partner Counsel, Nairobi School of Law
"When the state erases a person, documentation is resurrection. Advocate understands this at a cellular level."
Farrukh Tashkentov
Field Researcher, Central Asia Program
The work is
not finished.
47 cases are open right now. Each row below is a person, a community, or a principle waiting on a decision.
Inter-American Court · Colombia
Forced displacement of 340 Afro-Colombian families; state liability for paramilitary coordination
Oral arguments scheduled
72% complete
African Commission · Ethiopia
Arbitrary detention of 18 journalists; documentation of interrogation methods
Evidence submission phase
58% complete
National Supreme Court · Indonesia
Environmental defenders criminalized under anti-terrorism statute; policy challenge
Amicus brief accepted
84% complete
UN Special Rapporteur · Myanmar
Systematic destruction of cultural sites; documentation for ICC referral
Rapporteur review
91% complete
European Court of Human Rights · Belarus
Extrajudicial deportation of 23 political dissidents; emergency interim measures
Interim measures pending
31% complete
National Court · Philippines
Enforced disappearance; habeas corpus petition for three activists
Hearing set for June 2025
45% complete
Showing 6 of 47 active cases · Updated May 2026
See the full record →Join the Record.
Whether you litigate, investigate, organize, or fund — your work belongs in this record. Tell us how you want to fight.
Read the Evidence.
Our 2024 Annual Impact Report — 48 pages of case outcomes, financial accountability, and field documentation. No summaries. The full record.