Karolina Rychlicka

Head of Strategic Litigation

Karolina is a Criminal and Public Law Solicitor. She joined Just for Kids Law as a trainee solicitor in January 2018 and qualified in February 2020. Karolina assists on criminal matters and accepts instructions in public law matters arising from the youth justice system. 

Karolina is a law graduate from Poland. She settled in the United Kingdom in 2003. Between 2010 and 2014 she worked as a case lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg where she specialised in cases involving inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners, the lawfulness of pre-trial detention and the right to a fair trial. During her time at the ECHR, Karolina graduated from the University of Strasbourg with a master’s degree in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. 

On her return to the United Kingdom in 2014, Karolina completed a law conversion course at BPP Law School. Later that year she started working as a paralegal in the Public Law and Human Rights department at a national law firm, where she assisted on Court of Protection matters, judicial review challenges, inquests, and civil claims against the police. During this time, she also completed a legal practice course and volunteered for the North Kensington Law Centre and Bail for Immigration Detainees. In 2017, Karolina secured a training contract through the Legal Education Foundation and joined Just for Kids Law as a Justice First Fellow. 

As a Justice First Fellow, Karolina has been developing a youth justice education project. She is a member of the Advisory Board of Youth Justice Legal Centre. Her perspective on the youth justice system is influenced by her experience of living and studying in Poland, where the age of criminal responsibility is 17 and where younger children in trouble with the law are dealt with by the family courts.