Assistant Lawyer - Hungarian Law

Council Of Europe; Strasbourg; On-site; EUR 40,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

The Council of Europe invites applications for an Assistant Lawyer under its Junior Professional Programme in Strasbourg. You will support senior staff in drafting decisions, examining applications, and presenting cases before the Court.

The unit structure includes training and integration into your team. Applicants must have a Hungarian law degree recognized for judicial access, with up to two years’ relevant experience, and strong English or French language skills.

Qualifications

• High-level law degree permitting access to judicial administration or legal professions in Hungary (five-year integrated master’s-level degree) or equivalent.
• Very good knowledge of one official Council of Europe language (English or French) and excellent Hungarian.
• Max two years of relevant professional legal experience after degree, within Hungary or international organisations.

Responsibilities

• Assist senior staff in preparing correspondence with applicants and draft decisions in standard form cases.
• Examine and handle prima facie inadmissible cases and standard cases.
• Draft decisions, minutes, reports, notes and other documents.
• Attend Court sessions and present applications; assist case-lawyers in Chamber case preparation.

Skills

Hungarian law knowledge

EU/international law

Legal drafting (English/French)

Analytical reasoning

Education

Law degree recognized by Hungarian system

Job description

Fixed-term appointment (Junior professional)

Posted date

28-Sep-2026

Deadline to apply

19-Oct-2026

Duty station

Grade

B3

Entity

Registry of the European Court of Human Rights

Description & Requirements

Your Team

The European Court of Human Rights is the judicial body which oversees the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights in the member states of the Council of Europe. Complaints of human rights violations may be brought before the Strasbourg Court once all possibilities of appeal have been exhausted in the member state concerned.

The Court is divided into five sections, the composition of which is fixed for three years. Each of these sections comprises different units organised per country. You will be assigned to one of these units, which is made up of both experienced lawyers and assistant lawyers whose number varies mainly according to the number and type of cases linked to the country. Each unit also has dedicated administrative support. On arrival, you will receive comprehensive training and will be fully integrated into your unit.

Your Role

As an Assistant Lawyer, you will assist more senior members of staff in the preparation of correspondence with applicants and draft decisions in standard form cases. You will:

• examine and deal with applications in prima facie inadmissible cases and in cases which can be dealt with in a standard manner;
• draft decisions, minutes, reports, notes and other documents;
• attend the Court’s sessions and present applications;
• assist one or more experienced case-lawyers, where necessary, in the preparation of Chamber cases for examination by the Court.

Requirements to apply

You must:

• have a higher education degree in law of a standard permitting access to the judicial administration or legal professions in Hungary (five-year integrated master's-level "okleveles jogász" degree) or have a higher education degree in law with a core curriculum in Hungarian law formally recognised as equivalent to that of degrees obtained in Hungary;
• after having obtained the relevant higher education degree in law, have a maximum of two years of relevant professional experience acquired in the legal field in Hungary or in international Organisations on tasks also related to national law; please note that the traineeships will not be counted in the professional experience;
• have a very good knowledge of one of the two official languages of the Council of Europe (English, French) and the ability to draft legal texts therein clearly and precisely; excellent knowledge of Hungarian (first language level).

You must also:

• be a citizen of one of the member states of the Council of Europe and fulfil the conditions for appointment to the civil service of that state;
• have discharged any obligation concerning national service (military, civil or comparable);
• not be the parent, child, stepchild or grandchild of a serving staff member of the Council of Europe;
• be under 35 years of age at the closing of the deadline for submission of applications for this vacancy notice.

Your application must demonstrate to what extent you have the competencies listed below. To help you doing so, feel free to consult our competency framework .

• Operational - Planning and work organisation
• Operational - Analysis and problem solving
• Interpersonal - Teamwork and co-operation
• Professional and technical expertise:
  • thorough knowledge of the Hungarian legal system and ability to handle cases arising in other jurisdictions;
  • knowledge of European Union law and of international law.
• Operational - Results orientation
• Operational - Learning and development
• Interpersonal - Adaptability

What we offer

This job vacancy is published within the framework of the Junior Professional Programmes (limited to 4 years). You can consult the conditions of employment (salaries, allowances, pension scheme, social insurance, etc.) on the webpage What we offer .

Applications and selection procedure

For more information on how we recruit, you can consult the page Our recruitment process . This recruitment is carried out in accordance with Articles 490 and 4100 of the Council of Europe Staff Rules. The deadline for applications is indicated in the General information section of this vacancy notice (see above) and is fixed at 23:59:59 (CET/CEST). When applying, make sure your motivation shows how your competencies make your profile the best for the role.

As an equal opportunity employer, the Council of Europe welcomes applications from all suitably qualified people, irrespective of sex, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or social origin, disability, religion or belief. Under its equal opportunity policy, the Council of Europe is aiming to achieve gender parity in staff employed in each category and grade. At the time of appointment, preference between suitable people shall be given to the person of the gender which is under-represented in the relevant grades within the category to which the vacancy belongs.

Applicants with specific needs are encouraged to request reasonable accommodations at any stage during the recruitment process. Please contact us at [e-mail] , we will ensure that your request is handled.

The information published on the CoE’s careers website regarding working conditions is correct at the time of publication of the vacancy notice. Any changes to these conditions during the recruitment process will be updated on our Portal and will apply at the time of the job offer. Our career's website is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all questions you would have. Should you have remaining questions, please contact us at [e-mail] .