Barrister and leading blogger Adam Wagner explains what drew him to human rights law – apart, of course, from Bridget Jones's Diary – and offers a few tips for aspiring practitioners

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Workmate: "Morning, Bridget. Late again."

Bridget: "Yes. Sorry. I was in bed with my boyfriend. He's a human rights lawyer, you know."

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By the time the second Bridget Jones film was released in 2004, the sheen had mostly gone from the new Labour Government and one of its flagship reforms, the Human Rights Act (HRA).

But somehow, human rights lawyers have retained a veneer of glamour, epitomised by Bridget Jones' tall, handsome boyfriend Mark Darcy and by Cherie Booth's Matrix Chambers, a group of lawyers who in 2000 brought the stuffy Bar into, well, the 1990s.

As with all myths, those surrounding human rights law are mostly false but also contain a pinch of truth. Few practitioners would describe human rights law as glamourous, and personally I have never seen any barrister in the field looking as good in a wig as Colin Firth. But human rights law is exciting, fast-moving and fascinating. This is why it is still an attractive option for people entering the profession. It also has a bright future, with an increasing number of cases in all areas of law involving human rights.

I am a junior barrister who works, writes and tweets (@adamwagner1) about human rights law. My own path into the practice area began almost exactly 10 years ago on a fateful day for many other reasons, 11 September 2001.

By a twist of fate, I heard about the 9/11 attacks while travelling through Cuba. At the time I was only a few miles away from what was soon to become the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, a place where human rights would ultimately be left behind.

When I returned to university a few weeks later I decided to change my course from English literature to politics, philosophy and economics. I wanted to understand the strange and frightening post-9/11 world and I felt that reading 16th century novels would not (immediately, at least) achieve this aim.

Previously, I had never considered being a lawyer. I had no interest in commercial law and hadn't been exposed to much else through the wisdom of legal TV dramas. But as I became more interested in political science and went on to study it to Masters level in New York, it dawned on me that many of the basic rules of society – and the interaction between individuals and the state – were about law, not politics.

Society, politics and the state all rest on a complex, imperfect and constantly evolving system of law. And, by practising as a public lawyer and in human rights, it is possible to work on the frontier of that system, where perfect ideas become imperfect reality.

Dawn of an industry

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was incorporated into the UK's legal system just over 10 years ago through the HRA 1998. The ECHR contains a deceptively simple set of rights and responsibilities which affect every area of law, from asylum to commerce.

The Act means that it is unlawful for any public authority to act in a way that breaches the ECHR. Human rights law therefore provides the sharpest weapon in an individual's armoury when taking on the state. If you read the press and listen to the Prime Minister, you may think that human rights law is to blame for all of our country's ills. Try not to believe the hype. The ECHR is a good thing, enshrining basic rights which in reality have been part of British common law for centuries.

It's very simple: do not torture, do not discriminate, do not unlawfully deprive people of their property… the rest is commentary. To paraphrase Lord Bingham, it is easy to criticise the ECHR, but much harder to decide which of the rights should be left out.

As with all law, the devil is in the detail, and both European and domestic case law can be fiendish. But unlike most statutes, the ECHR can be read and understood by anyone. This was the intention when it was drafted 61 years ago. What is less simple is how you can become a human rights lawyer.

How to get there

My own choice was to become a barrister. I was attracted to the excitement of advocacy and the freedom of self-employment. As an example of this freedom, being self-employed has allowed me to set up and edit the UK Human Rights Blog and develop a side speciality in legal journalism. I would never have thought this possible when I was at law school.

An important point about the Bar is that there are few 'pure' human rights barristers – that is, barristers who spend 
all day every day doing human rights law.

The vast majority combine human rights with other specialities such as public law, employment or crime. For example, my practice includes public inquiries (I have been instructed in the BahaMousa and Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust public inquiries) and medical law. The Mark Darcy route is but one way into the field. There are at least four other ways of being a "human rights lawyer".

First, become a human rights solicitor. As with the Bar, there is a huge amount of competition for places at firms which explicitly do human rights work, such as Leigh Day & Co, Bindmans or Bhatt Murphy. But it is also important to remember that any solicitors involved with crime and especially immigration will come into contact with human rights law regularly. Immigration law is dominated by human rights claims and appeals.

Second, work for the government. If you read the left-leaning press you will probably have the impression that the business of government is to suppress human rights. This is simply not the case. Every government department considers and implements human rights law on a daily basis. Working as a central or local government lawyer means ensuring that individuals have less need to challenge the state in court.

Third, become an academic. There is a lot of cross over between human rights academics and human rights practitioners, and academics play an important role in pushing the law forward.

Finally, work for one of the many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that promote human rights. These range from Liberty and Justice, which operate solely to promote human rights to NGOs in other related fields such as disability, healthcare or equality. Many do valuable work and need lawyers to help with litigation and advocacy.

Threats and opportunities

Returning to the world of lawyers, if you do make it, you should be aware that despite its relative youth, there are a number of potential dangers to the human rights law field.

A significant worry for human rights lawyers is that their work may disappear completely or diminish significantly as a result of the Coalition Government's Commission on a Bill of Rights, due to report by the end of 
next year.

The Conservative Party has long campaigned for the HRA to be repealed and potentially replaced by a "British Bill of Rights". However, as a result of the agreement with the Liberal Democrats at the birth of the coalition, the Bill of Rights Commission is unable to recommend withdrawing from the ECHR, which underpins the HRA.

So while the HRA might be replaced by a Bill of Rights, the legal framework will remain very similar. If anything, a new range of rights and responsibilities may increase, not decrease, work for lawyers who will have to disentangle the new law and advise public authorities on how to implement it.

Another serious threat is the emasculation of legal aid. As part of a wider programme of budget cuts, the legal aid budget is to be cut by approximately a quarter. While human rights and public law actions will remain in the system, other interconnected areas such as family and medical law will no longer be legally aided.

The reality is that the 'public interest' law industry and, more specifically, cases involving people who cannot afford lawyers, will diminish. Human rights lawyers will suffer as a result. And the cuts will be compounded with the ongoing and significant reduction in public funding for criminal and immigration law. Many criminal barristers who are paid by the state know that unless they diversify, they may end up being squeezed out of a shrinking field. Some solicitors have already gone out of business.

Reasons to be cheerful

Not all is gloomy, however. Human rights law was a field which, prior to 2000, hardly existed. It is now flourishing as more individuals, organisations and corporations challenge public authorities in court to enforce their rights.

The past year has seen many successful challenges, on subjects ranging from prisoner votes through to assisted suicide and the entry requirements for religious schools. Human rights law remains fast-moving, intellectually challenging and important to society, whatever the critics say.

This means a steady workload for lawyers. It may not make you as rich or handsome as Mr Darcy, but human rights law will keep you busy, interested and probably fulfilled, too.

Adam Wagner is a barrister practising at 1 Crown Office Row and edits the UK Human Rights Blog. Click here to follow Adam on Twitter.

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