Our Impact

TAU Legal Clinics provide free legal services to hundreds of clients each year, while addressing some of the most critical social and human rights issues affecting vulnerable and marginalized groups in Israel, such as:

• A first of its kind compensation claim against industrial polluters on behalf of Haifa area residents suffering from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and lung cancer, was submitted by the Environmental Justice & the Protection of Animal Rights Clinic.

• A motion submitted by the Clinic for Workers’ Rights led to the annulment of COVID-19 emergency regulations that would have furloughed thousands of female workers.

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• A motion submitted by the Refugee Rights Clinic led to the annulment of the Deposit Law that led to a deduction of 20% from asylum seekers’ salaries as “insurance” towards their departure from Israel; the  funds were returned to asylum seekers .

• As part of its mission to eradicate the exploitation of elderly consumers, the Clinic for the Rights of Holocaust Survivors and the Elderly represented three seniors who were charged for services they had no intention of purchasing. The court ruled in favour of the motion and ordered the company to issue refunds totalling 700,000 ILS.

• The Criminal Justice Clinic won an appeal on behalf of a woman who was convicted after she threatened to commit suicide. In a landmark ruling, the conviction was overturned with the Court finding that a suicide threat doesn’t meet the requirements for a conviction for uttering threats.

• Following an appeal submitted by the Human Rights Clinic, the Supreme Court ruled that, in situations where counterclaims are made against police and civilians, complaints of police brutality must be investigated before a civilian can be charged.  

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• Compensation for demonstrators detained unlawfully by the police was ordered by the Magistrate Court in two lawsuits filed by the Human Rights Clinic. In its ruling, the Court accepted, for the first time, compensation claims for violations that restricted the right to protest.

• An appeal against the detention of asylum seekers refusing to be sent to a third country, and a motion against the deportation of asylum seekers against their will, both submitted by the Refugee Rights Clinic, ended the mass incarceration of asylum seekers, and prevented their forced removal to third countries.

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• Following a motion submitted by the Human Rights Clinic, the Knesset passed legislative rules forbidding the practice of disconnecting a water supply as means for debt collection.

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• The Environmental Justice & the Protection of Animal Rights Clinic and the Class Action Clinic filed an objection to a settlement agreement in legal proceedings against a slaughterhouse accused of animal abuse. As a result, the compensation due to the revised settlement tripled from 500,000 to 1,500,000 ILS, to be used for the protection of animal rights.