58 Trial Monitoring: A Reference Manual for Practitioners Staffing levels for legal analysts should reflect: the scale of the programme and the number of monitors; the frequency and complexity of internal and external reporting; and other duties assigned to legal analysts, including involvement in advocacy, capacity-building or field support. On average, programmes that seek to engage in regular public reporting or advocacy may consider employing at least one legal analyst for every five or six full-time monitors. 67 As programmes expand and reporting, advocacy or other requirements become more complex, information management and other organizational demands will increase. In larger programmes, additional supervisory responsibilities may need to be delegated to legal analysts. Such responsibilities can include oversight of court-access issues, the preparation of training modules, drafting of policy papers and engaging with local officials. In turn, responsibilities may also be divided or shared among individual legal analysts by subject matter, issue and region, or according to skill sets or programme needs. 68 In recruiting legal analysts, primary emphasis should be placed on candidates’ legal reasoning and writing skills. A written test, in addition to an in-person interview, may be administered to assess the candidates’ skills in these areas. Previous experience as a practicing lawyer is preferred, as analysts not only have to dispense legal guidance to monitors, but must also organize and analyze a large amount of information, as well as formulate the programme’s legal findings and conclusions. Ideally, candidates should be familiar with both the domestic justice system and international legal standards. Strong communication skills will enable them to liaise more effectively with team members and to address external stakeholders persuasively. Importantly, they should have the ability to see both “the forest and the trees”, since they will be required to know the details, yet present the larger picture both in reports and in advice to managers. Where one candidate cannot fulfil all these roles, analysts with complementary backgrounds should be sought. As was suggested for senior managers, legal analysts should devote some time to observing proceedings themselves, in order to gain first-hand knowledge regarding the monitors’ work and the functioning of the particular justice system. 7.3 Monitors 7.3.1 Size of the monitoring team The main responsibilities of monitors were listed in the chart in Chapter 7.1. The number of monitors required by a programme depends on a variety of factors.69 First, it depends on the programme’s scope and objectives. For instance, monitors may cover all courts throughout the host state or only selected ones. For systemic programmes, the size of the team should be sufficient to provide a meaningful sample of cases and cover a significant number of courts. 67  This ratio is based on the experience of OSCE field operations engaged in full-time monitoring, with the expectation that each analyst/adviser will review 15-24 case reports weekly, in addition to providing substantive feedback, engaging in regular internal reporting, and drafting external reports on a semi-annual basis. By way of example, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo has consistently staffed the lowest ratio of monitors to legal analyst staff (about three to one). In turn, the LSMS has engaged in the most regular and prolific public reporting. Conversely, programmes that expect to publish reports infrequently or only at the completion of a lengthy monitoring term may not require as many analysts per number of monitors. 68  In the Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example, the division of the field operation into four regions and the large number of monitors (over 20) account for the two levels of internal reporting, with six monitors in each of the four regions reporting to a regional legal adviser who, in turn, reports to the legal advisers at the head office. Legal advisers in head office are assigned to thematic portfolios. Through thematic working groups they consult with field staff, inter alia, to discuss trends, develop activities and assess on going programmatic activities. 69  OSCE programmes have been organized with a wide variety in the number of monitors. For example, the Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina has operated with 22 to 25 full-time monitors; the Mission in Kosovo with six full-time monitors; the Mission to Croatia with 20 Rule of Law staff monitoring war crimes trials as part of broader obligations; the Mission to Skopje with approximately five monitors. Project-model programmes have also differed vastly in size, ranging from eight monitors in Tajikistan to 262 monitors in Moldova.