Follow-up Conference of the Second Hundred of the Tomorrow’s Lawyer Program

On December 22, 2018, the follow-up conference of the participants of the second hundred of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program entitled “Human Rights Protection in the Constitutional Court” was held in Kyiv.

In 2018, the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program was being implemented by the Ukrainian Bar Association and the “Bar Association of Legal Aid Providers” with the support of the United States Embassy and the Canadian-funded “Quality and Accessible Legal Aid in Ukraine” Project, implemented by the Canadian Bureau of International Education.

Andriy Vyshnevsky, Head of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program, Peter Yarosh, Federal Attorney of the US Department of Justice, Legal Advisor at the US Embassy in Ukraine, Andriy Stelmashchuk, President of the Ukrainian Bar Association and Viktoriya Mitko, Head of the Board of the “Bar Association of Legal Aid Providers” greeted the participants with welcoming remarks.

Among the guests of the event there were also experts of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program Volodymyr Sushchenko, Olga Zhukovska, Andriy Kostin, Dmitro Kuhniuk and Serhiy Goncharenko, as well as Ivana Ibragimova, a team leader of the Quality and Accessible Legal Aid in Ukraine” Project and Oleksandra Egert, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Bar Association.

Alike every event organized within the Program, the agenda was inspired with new meanings. At this time, the attention of the participants was drawn to a new and extremely effective tool for the protection of human rights – a constitutional complaint. The head of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Stanislav Shevchuk, made a brilliant inspirational speech “Constitutional complaint – a new stage in the development of a mechanism for the protection of human rights”.

Continuing the conference, the seminar “Constitution, Democracy and Constitutional Complaint: Nature, Mechanism and Practical Aspects of the Ukrainian Model” was conducted by Oleksandr Vodyannikov, candidate of judiciary, National Legal Advisor of the OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine, member of the Council on Judicial Reform and the Constitutional Commission.

The long-awaited part of the event was the solemn awarding of certificates marking the successful completion of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program.

Over a period of one year, the participants completed four modules covering the following topics:

  • Attorney-client relations
  • Building collegial relations within the justice system
  • Communication in the legal community
  • Public relations and media. Advocacy

The Program trainers of this year were Iryna Gluschenkova, Vitaliy Kasko, Tetyana Troshchynska, Larysa Denysenko and Yaroslav Yurchyshyn. We thank our colleagues for their contribution to the development and improvement of the training program!

The participants of the Program received an expert support from Dmytro Kuhnyuk, Serhiy Goncharenko, Andriy Kostin, Julia Lisova, Olga Zhukovska and Volodymyr Sushchenko. Each of them became a mentor and teacher for the Program participants.

Congratulations to the tomorrow’s lawyers upon graduation! We wish you to become true leaders and agents of change in our country!

Photo-report of the event is available by the link.

***

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program, the Ukrainian Bar Association, the Bar Association of Legal Aid Providers, the Quality and Accessible Legal Aid in Ukraine Project, the Canadian Bureau for International Education, or the Government of Canada and the Law Enforcement Section of the United States Embassy in Ukraine. 

“Tomorrow’s Lawyer” is a powerful network of lawyers uniting opinion leaders in the legal profession, who provide legal assistance in accordance with the highest ethical standards, act as agents of change in society and leaders in the professional community.

 The Program was developed during 2016-2017 with the support of The Quality and Accessible Legal Aid Project with an expert contribution from the Canadian Bar Association. In 2018, the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program is being implemented by the Ukrainian Bar Association and the Bar Association of Legal Aid Providers, with the support of the United States Embassy and The Quality and Accessible Legal Aid in Ukraine Project funded by the Government of Canada and implemented by the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE).