WHEN CAN YOU APPLY?
We welcome applications consisting of CV, cover letter and essay by 2 October 2022, 23:59.
WHO CAN APPLY?
The programme is open to young lawyers aged between 22 and 35 in the first seven years of their professional career.
HOW MUCH?
Costs will be covered by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Rule of Law Programme South East Europe (KAS RLPSEE), with the exception of transport to/from the training sessions.
WHEN YOU CAN APPLY?
The application will contain your CV, a motivation letter (maximum one page) and an essay (maximum two pages) in which you present a change you want to implement for the benefit of the justice system, your profession or the institution/organisation in which you work. Identify a specific problem (an acute need, something that bothers you deeply!) - come up with concrete solutions (sustainable in the medium and long term) that reflect the change and describe how you will implement this project, how you bring your contribution, how you think the system/institution/profession will look like after the change is implemented.
Documents should be submitted in .pdf format and should be written in Romanian; we recommend a font size of 11 and a line spacing of 1.5.
Submit your application consisting of CV, cover letter and essay by Sunday 2 October 2022, 23:59.
WHO CAN APPLY?
The programme is open to young lawyers between 22 and 35 years of age in the first seven years of their professional career (judges, prosecutors, court clerks, lawyers, legal advisers, notaries public, mediators, bailiffs, liquidators or insolvency specialists, prison or probation workers, lawyers in public administration/NGOs/companies, university assistants, police officers with law degrees, etc.). ), master's students and law students in their final year of study.
Up to 20 young lawyers with leadership potential will be selected, motivated to contribute to the good of justice and society.
What will you find in Leader for Justice?
a personally and professionally transformative experience,
one-on-one people with whom you share sound values and principles,
colleagues from all legal professions with leadership potential and the motivation to make a difference,
an open space of continuous growth and learning,
a dedicated team of trainers to help you realise your strengths and equip you with a set of useful tools,
intense training modules on developing your skills,
a community of alumni you can build with and who can support you in any endeavour.
Skills and key abilities
how you build a vision and a mission
what are the values that define you
creativity tools
leadership styles
teamworking
team-leading
persuasion techniques
emotional intelligence
storytelling and public speaking
decision-making
the management of change
time management
negociation and conflict resolution
give and receive feedback
project management
WHAT does Leaders for Justice 14 involve?
6 training sessions, an annual community meeting, study visit to Berlin and graduation conference
A) Six training sessions and a meeting of members of the Leaders for Justice community, all dedicated to developing leadership skills:
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During the first four days of the programme we take time to get to know each other, build group cohesion, seek to understand the justice system together, work with creative tools, look at personal and group vision, mission and values in modules facilitated by Mihai Drăgoi and Codru Vrabie.
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What are the leadership styles around us? How can we work better in a team and build teams, how do we communicate more effectively in the organisation and with stakeholders. Session 2 is one of the most intense, with an afternoon outdoors and many practical exercises and contexts, with Mihai Drăgoi and Marian Staș.
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For four days you practice the principles of persuasion, discover more about yourself in the emotional intelligence module, learn how you can reach people through storytelling. Each participant gives a speech about a strong (personal) motivation and receives feedback from trainers and peers. Training facilitated by Diana Ghindă and Codru Vrabie.
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You discover and put into practice a decision-making model that helps you in your personal and professional life, you learn how to make small and big changes around you, in your team, organisation, profession, the system you work in or the community you live in. Another module is dedicated to real leadership in practice and another creates the context for shaping ideas for joint group initiatives and projects with an impact on justice or society. In this session it is very likely that all 4 trainers will be present.
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To implement impactful projects, you need a set of tools to organise your time and teamwork. You will learn to use them and put them into practice with your teammates in modules facilitated by Mihai Drăgoi and Codru Vrabie.
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Since 2011, Leaders for Justice members have been meeting annually in an alumni community event, where we bring together new ideas, debate current issues, and seek solutions with long-term partners. The agenda includes personal and professional development workshops facilitated by LfJ members, teambuilding and sports activities, and sessions where we look at what we want to do together in the future.
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We bring together everything we have covered in the first 5 sessions and add topics that the group includes in the agenda. You will complete the project that you and your team want to implement and give a pitch to the team of trainers and organisers.
Training sessions run from Thursday 15:00 to Sunday 13:00, with training modules from 09:00-13:00 and 15:00-19:00. Venues and final dates of the training sessions will be sent to selected candidates in December. All costs of the programme (accommodation, meals, coffee breaks, training materials, etc.), with the exception of transport within the country, are covered by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Rule of Law Programme South East Europe (KAS RLPSEE).
B) Study visit to Berlin
(to be confirmed; spring/autumn 2024): For one week, participants will get in touch with the German justice system through meetings with decision-makers, visits to relevant institutions and participation in court hearings (civil and criminal). Among the institutions included in the programme so far are the German Bundestag, the Land Court, the Land Constitutional Court, the Attorney General's Office, the Romanian Embassy in Berlin or the German Bar Association. An interpreter will be present throughout the study visit and the costs of the visit will be covered by the organisers.
C) Implementing group projects
During the training sessions, participants will develop project ideas that address key issues in the justice system or in Romanian society as a whole. The structure of the programme, through the sequence of the themes of the 6 training sessions, guides the participants in the use of the skills learned and facilitates the use of the tools acquired for the practical purpose of the group projects.
D) Meetings with decision-makers and professionals
Meetings with policy makers each training session may include a 2-4 hour module in which participants openly discuss a topical justice issue with one or more guests of note in the field of justice. Participants will also have access to monthly alumni community meetings.
E) Leaders for Justice Community
Selected candidates will be able to get involved in the activities of the alumni community, which comprises 250 young people from all legal professions (judges, lawyers, prosecutors, legal advisors, police officers, mediators, university assistants, lawyers in NGOs or private companies, prison education officers, notaries public, masters or PhD students, etc.). Within the alumni community, members implement and actively participate in group projects addressing key issues in the justice system or in society, organise socialising meetings or open discussions with professionals, participate together in different cultural or sports events.
F) LiderJust Association
Participants have the opportunity to sign up and contribute to the activities of the LiderJust Association, a non-governmental organization established by the graduates of the program to facilitate and promote the implementation of projects initiated by members of the Leaders for Justice community. More details on the association's website at www.liderjust.ro.
WHY A LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME FOR YOUNG LEGAL PROFESSIONALS?
The Aim
of the programme is to build a community of motivated young people who embrace the values of the rule of law and professional integrity as fundamental benchmarks in their work and who are prepared to promote these values among their peers in the field.
The objectives
of this programme are to train talented young lawyers and develop essential leadership skills, equip them with substantive information on the principles of democracy and the rule of law and, not least, the principles of professional ethics. Selected young people will implement individual and group projects to gain a practical understanding of what it means to be a true leader.
The Target group
of this programme is made up of young lawyers who are either in the first seven years of their professional careers, master's in law or final year students who have the potential to become leaders. The selected participants will come from all over Romania and from all legal fields. Twenty young people motivated to take an active role in the evolution of the legal and socio-political system in Romania will be selected.
The activities
of the project have three major components: 1) learning various leadership and teamwork skills, 2) gaining a deeper understanding of the workings of the justice system, and 3) interacting with personalities in justice and society.
The goal
of this leadership programme is to create a national network of young legal professionals eager to develop their leadership skills, capacities and ways of acting so that they become real agents of change.
HOW MUCH?
Costs will be covered by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation - Rule of Law Programme in South East Europe (KAS RLPSEE), based on the written agreement you will sign to confirm your participation. Conditions include attendance at all programme sessions, active involvement, seriousness and professionalism.
WHO WERE THE TRAINERS AT THE LAST EDITIONS?
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MIHAI DRĂGOI
Trainer, consultant
Mihai has been with Leaders for Justice since the concept phase, being the main trainer in the programme in all editions so far. Mihai Drăgoi comes from a corporate background with extensive experience in sales, human resources and people management. He is currently a consultant and trainer for different companies and organizations on change management, sales, HR or leadership. His desire for personal development, his curiosity, his motivation to create and have a real and positive impact in everything he does, has helped Mihai to accumulate a very complex experience: Sales, Supply Chain, Organizational Development, Human Resources Management, Project Implementation, some with international impact, Consulting. Passionate about everything Change Management means, especially leading people through change. -
CODRU VRABIE
Trainer, good governance expert
Codru has been involved in all editions of the Leaders for Justice programme so far, first as a guest speaker and then as an expert in good governance, trainer, facilitator for projects initiated by the graduating generations, and mentor for members of each group. Codru is an activist, trainer and consultant in the field of good governance (public administration reform and justice reform, including public integrity components), has contributed to the drafting of several pieces of legislation, to the monitoring and evaluation of public policies and implementation of legislation, to the development of several advocacy campaigns, and to the training of many civil servants, journalists, civic activists and citizens. -
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DIANA GHINDĂ
Trainer, community expert
Diana has been working with groups, communities and ecosystems for two decades, with basic and advanced training in training, facilitation, coaching, Art of Hosting, Theory U and graphic facilitation. Diana was a co-founder at the Romanian Training Institute (2002-2020), an initiator and host in the Training Café community (2009-2022), and a contributor to the creation of learning processes for groups of adults from very different backgrounds: NGOs, civil servants, business, teachers, freelancers, students. Diana believes that anything can be learned, that learning is a lifelong journey and that we learn and act better together than on our own. That's why, most often in her practice, she uses methodologies that support systemic and participative leadership. She has been collaborating with the LfJ community since 2017, supporting community leaders to learn and co-create projects together. -
Doru has been coordinating the Leaders for Justice leadership program and community for 10 years, where he has accompanied each group of participants, supported group projects, created learning and cohesion building contexts or co-initiated People of Justice formats - documentary film, thematic panels or storytelling events. From his position as programme coordinator in KAS RLPSEE, Doru is also involved in projects promoting human rights (One World Romania film festival), justice reform or the fight against corruption.
WHO ARE WE?
Konrad Adenauer Foundation - Rule of Law in South East Europe Programme (KAS RLPSEE)
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation's Rule of Law Programme for South East Europe covers 10 countries in the region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Republic of Moldova, Romania and Serbia.
As part of its work, the KAS RLPSEE office works with civil society organisations and public institutions in a number of areas where there is an acute need for reform and consultation in the countries of the region: strengthening an independent and honest judiciary, the fight against corruption, constitutional law, procedural law, the protection of human and minority rights, reconciliation with the past through legal means and the promotion of the legal order.
Through the projects implemented, seminars, training courses, conferences, publications and assistance provided, KAS RLPSEE aims to contribute significantly to the development and consolidation of democratic systems in the region based on the rule of law.
The headquarters of the Rule of Law Programme in South East Europe is located at 5 Franzelarilor Street in Bucharest. More details can be found at www.kas.de/rlpsee.
Leaders for Justice Community
Leaders for Justice is a community of young lawyers in Romania that brings together professionals from various fields of law and encourages dialogue and cooperation between the legal professions.
Together we are a team, a community based on common values, not just a professional network.
Within the Leaders for Justice Community and the LiderJust Association we acquire new skills and professional tools, participating in specialized training sessions, workshops and debates with personalities from the legal and related fields; we exchange ideas and work on projects that we design and implement together.
Vision
A fair, transparent, efficient and predictable justice system, where accessibility and respect for citizens' rights are the criteria for any systemic measure, in full accordance with the principles of the law; a law-aware and well-informed society.
Mission
We aim to improve the justice system in Romania and take an active role in society by promoting and strengthening the values of the rule of law: equality before the law, integrity, accountability and transparency in decision-making.
APPLY HERE!
Send your application to lideripentrujustitie@gmail.com by 2 October 2022, 23:59.
Each applicant will receive an email confirmation of their application by 4 October at the latest (maximum 48 hours after the application deadline). In the absence of this confirmation, please contact us.
The selection process will consist of the following stages:
7 September - 2 October: call for applications
3 October - 20 October: pre-selection of written applications
31 October - 4 November: online interviews with shortlisted candidates
9-10 November: clarification discussions with some of the interviewed candidates
22 November: communication of the final result
