BACKGROUND These guidelines result from a sustained collaboration among civil society organisations across Asia, recognising the urgent need to strengthen legal representation in death penalty cases. In 2021, a group of legal and human rights organisations—including the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR, Indonesia), The Square Circle Clinic (India), Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP), Transformative Justice Collective (TJC, Singapore), Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights (MCCHR), and a Chinese legal researcher—conducted research on fair trial standards in capital cases. Later, representatives from the Centre for Prisoners Rights (CPR, Japan) and Japan Federation of Bar Associations joined this initiative, further enriching the collaboration with their expertise and perspective. Facilitated by The Rights Practice, this initiative documented structural, procedural, and institutional challenges affecting capital defence. Despite differences in legal systems, common barriers emerged, including inconsistent defence standards, restricted access to case materials, inadequate legal aid, and the limited capacity of lawyers to present mitigating factors. These findings underscored the urgent need for a regionally grounded framework to support defence lawyers in navigating the complexities of capital cases. In 2023, an initial convention brought together legal practitioners and human rights advocates to discuss the research findings and explore solutions. While international human rights instruments provide fundamental legal benchmarks, participants identified a lack of regionally specific guidance for capital defence. Participants agreed that an Asia-led initiative was necessary—one tailored to the region’s diverse legal, political, and cultural contexts rather than an adaptation of external models. Building on these discussions, a second meeting in November 2024 in Kuala Lumpur brought together civil society organisations and legal practitioners to shape the content of the guidelines. Participants engaged Ricky Gunawan, an Indonesian human rights lawyer with extensive experience in capital defence, to facilitate the meeting and spearhead the drafting process. The meeting allowed participants to define key legal and procedural safeguards, ensuring that the guidelines would be both practical and aspirational in elevating defence standards. Following the Kuala Lumpur meeting, between January and March 2025, Gunawan led the drafting with strategic oversight, integrating regional feedback, conducting further legal research, and refining the structure to enhance clarity and applicability across diverse jurisdictions. The process involved multiple rounds of consultation, ensuring that the framework reflected both legal soundness and practical defence strategies. The version presented here is the culmination of this collaborative effort. It represents a regionally driven initiative aimed at strengthening legal representation in capital cases and reinforcing broader fair trial protections. These guidelines serve as both a practical tool for defence lawyers and a strategic advocacy document, reinforcing the role of legal practitioners in upholding due process, ensuring professional ethics, and advancing fair trial standards in capital cases across Asia. 0