Lawyers for Liberty is a human rights lawyers organisation that seeks to protect and promote human rights and civil liberties for all including those most at-risk – human rights defenders, students, grassroots activists, opposition politicians and members of Parliament, and ordinary Malaysians who have asserted and demanded their rights.

They are a collective of lawyers and activists who believe in the universality of human rights, the value of individual human dignity, and equal treatment and fairness as the foundation of a democratic and just society.

LFL fully established since 2011 has been at the frontline of human rights activism. It has handled or supported numerous high profile and important cases including on death in police custody, inquest on death of persons in custody, fatal police shooting, torture, unlawful arrest and detention, denial of access to lawyers while under arrest, detention without trial, civil liberties involving the Sedition Act and Peaceful Assembly Act and statelessness.

Among those whom they have represented include opposition leaders, members of Parliament and State Assemblymen, student leaders, NGO, political and community activists, lawyers, a political cartoonist, bloggers, journalists, whistleblowers, families, and victims of serious human rights violations and stateless persons.

STRUCTURE

LFL is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation. They employ staff and work with the support and dedication of our committed legal volunteers. LFL is governed by Advisers who are responsible for the strategic direction, financial and other governance of the organisation. They are entirely independent and are funded by a combination of grants and donations from the public.

Lawyers for Liberty aims to fill a critical need to advocate and embark on strategic legal and non-legal challenges on human rights abuses and excesses by the Malaysian Government, its agencies, and other public authorities – that might otherwise go uncontested and established as standard practice.

Their general aims are to:

• - protect and promote human rights
• - promote constitutional reform, improve the legal and criminal justice system
• - access to justice
• - raise the standards in the conduct and policies of the Home Ministry and its agencies

They aim to influence public policies, laws, and human rights standards through the courts, Parliament, and in the wider civil society community through a combination of:

• - public campaigning
• - strategic public interest litigation, criminal defence, and intervention
• - parliamentary advocacy
• - independent policy analysis, briefing, and research
• - training and events

Central to their operation is the undertaking of public interest cases by coordinating with supportive law firms, senior and volunteer lawyers and working in tandem with their thematic campaigns for human rights and law reform via legal intervention, advice and representation; documentation, independent policy analysis, briefing, and research; public campaigning; coalition building, and coordination with other civil society organisations and community groups.