Launching the Asylum Law Caselaw Database
Product Owner at Refugee Solidarity Network
Skills
Technologies
Team Size
6 people
Led the development of a searchable database of positive precedent-setting court judgments, giving asylum lawyers across Türkiye the tools to strengthen their clients’ cases by citing favorable rulings.
Context
Working as the Monitoring & Evaluation Manager at RSN in 2019, I documented observations from Turkish lawyers about the challenges they faced providing legal assistance to asylum seekers. One obstacle came up repeatedly: the lack of uniformity in how asylum law was interpreted across Türkiye’s 80 provinces.
Asylum lawyers needed a way to identify and share court judgments that established positive precedents. Working with a cross-functional team of asylum law experts and web developers, I led the development of a searchable database to address this gap.
What I Did
- 1
Discovery & Planning
Spearheaded the project from concept to launch, assembling a cross-functional team of legal experts and developers.
- 2
Data Privacy Protocols
Designed and implemented robust anonymization protocols for sensitive court documents to protect asylum seekers.
- 3
MVP Launch
Launched initial version with 70 judgments, then drove iterative improvements based on user feedback from lawyers in the field.
- 4
Advanced Features
Oversaw implementation of advanced filtering and full-text search to help lawyers quickly find relevant precedents.
Impact
The Caselaw Database became a critical resource for asylum lawyers and NGOs across Turkey, enabling more consistent application of asylum law by making positive precedents accessible nationwide. The database has grown to over 100 judgments and continues to serve the legal community today.
Multeci-Hukuku.net (Asylum-Law.net, in Turkish)
The Turkish-language website hosting the Caselaw Database.
multecihukuku.net