Two prominent London lawyers and legal advisers to Parliament`s Joint Committee on Human Rights Within the Court, the highest paid judges are the President and Vice-President, Koen Lenaerts of Belgium and Antonio Tizzano of Italy. Their basic salary is 138% and 125% of the highest rate in the public sector, i.e. more than €314,000 and €284,400 respectively. You are also entitled to higher amusement allowances – more than €1,400 per month or €900 per month. Simor, who speaks fluent French, is an attorney at Matrix Chambers. It became QC in 2013 and has acted for the government and applicants. She represented the Open Rights Group and Privacy International earlier this month before the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg in a surveillance case against the UK government. However, if Home Secretary Theresa May has her way, whoever is chosen could benefit from a remarkably short term. Earlier this week, May called on the UK to remain in the EU but withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and the Strasbourg Court. Two of them – Tim Eicke QC and Jessica Simor QC – are prominent London human rights lawyers and have appeared before European and international courts. The third, Murray Hunt, is legal adviser to Parliament`s Joint Committee on Human Rights.
Despite speculation that the appointment would be entangled in partisan statements of rights or Eurosceptic policies in the run-up to the referendum, all three are widely respected in the legal profession. No one is known to be affiliated with a party. Murray Hunt is also a respected human rights expert. Like Simor, he was one of the founders of Matrix Chambers when he worked as a barrister and is a visiting professor at Oxford University Law School. Judges are entitled to a retirement pension at the age of 65. On the basis of the final salary and depending on the service, it may not exceed 70% of the basic salary or 174,993 euros per year. A pension can be received at a lower rate from the age of 60. Kristina Pardalos, a judge for San Marino, an Italian enclave of 31,500 inhabitants, only completed her legal training in 2002. Of the 47 members of the European Court of Human Rights, 23 had never worked as judges before being appointed to this international post. None of the candidates wished to comment on their candidacy. However, Claire Montgomery, QC at The Matrix, said: “They have a really interesting list of three real experts.
The advantage of Jessica Simor is that she has a lot of knowledge about how the [European] court works. “There will be such an overlap between Strasbourg and Luxembourg because of the [EU] Charter of Fundamental Rights. Simor also worked for the European Commission [of Human Rights]. She has real expertise and is an excellent candidate. The Court of Justice, which should not be confused with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, has its seat in Luxembourg and is the highest court in the European Union in matters of EU law. The General Court interprets EU law and has delivered numerous landmark judgments. Among the most recent are the introduction of the “right to be forgotten” in a data protection case against Google and the imposition of fines of €860 million on Microsoft for violating competition rules. With a supplement for entertainment and a residence allowance of 15%, a judge can earn more than 300,000 euros per year. There are also household, education and education allowances if a judge has children worth more than €9,500 for one child. Each judge has the right to a car and a driver. Some of the smaller Council of Europe countries from which the Court`s members come have difficulty finding candidates – Liechtenstein, for example, is represented by a former Swiss professor.
Upon appointment, judges receive a one-off installation payment of two months` basic salary of €41,664, as well as travel expenses for themselves and their families, as well as furniture removal expenses. When a judge stops working for the court, he or she is entitled to a transitional allowance of between €100,000 and €162,493. A judge can also keep the family allowance and receive a single reintegration allowance of €20,832. The Court has 28 judges, five of whom are women. Their basic salary before allowances is calculated at 112.5 per cent of the official`s highest level. There are also 11 Advocates-General of the General Court, who receive the same salary as the judges and provide legal advice to the General Court before the final decision. The UK`s record on the ECHR is remarkably good, with judges finding relatively few human rights violations.