THE SECOND GROUP OF PATICIPANTS OF TOMORROW’S LAWYER PROGRAM STARTS TRAINING SESSION

On 04 — 06 March 2017 the second group of participants of Tomorrow’s Lawyer program (hereinafter – the “Program”) completed their first training module dedicated to the communication with the client.

The attorneys attending the program were trained by Mrs. Iryna Glushnkova, a professional coach, and a Program experts Mrs Olga Zhukovska and Mr. Volodymyr Suschenko with the participation of Mr. Andriy Kostin and Mrs. Julia Lisova.

The first training module was officially opened by the Program Manager Mr. Andriy Vyshnevskiy. The welcoming remarks were addressed by the President of the Ukrainian Bar Association Mr. Denys Bugay. The event was also attended by the manager of the Ukrainian-Canadian Project “Affordable and High Quality Legal Assistance in Ukraine” Mrs. Oksana Kikot and the Project’s team leader Mrs. Ivanna Ibragimova, Director of the “Bar Association of Legal Aid Providers” Mrs. Victoria Mitko.

The Program participants noted that the Canadian experience has been extremely well adapted to the Ukrainian context. During the training, the particular attention was paid to the particularities of handling non-standard and extraordinary situations. The key role was given to the ethical issues of advocacy, particularly in the relationship with a  client.

As noted by one of the participants: “We have to be ready to provide legal assistance to any client and maintain resilience in stressful situations”. Among other things, advocates realized that they are not solely experts in law, but also could be a driving force in building the rule of law, “lawyers should hear and respect each other, alongside with maintaining comprehensive knowledge of legislation. We bear a great responsibility for ourselves and the others. We defend the human rights and they depend upon us, and therefore we can influence the society as a whole”. Another insight picked from the module was the importance of self-education and self-improvement on a daily basis, “devote yourself to the case and do your best alike the professional athletes. This is the only way you can achieve a desired outcome,” – commented one of the training participants.

The photoreport of the training session could be found by the link.

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The “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program is being implemented by the Ukrainian Bar Association (UBA) and the Bar Association of Legal Aid Providers (BALAP) supported by the “Quality and Accessible Legal Aid in Ukraine” (QALA) Project funded by the Government of Canada, implemented by the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) in cooperation with the Coordination Centre for Legal Aid Provision.

“Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program — first All-Ukrainian professional development program for lawyers, intended to form a strong and active community of lawyers who are expected to become the agents of change with high ethical standards of work; introduce reforms, both at the regional and national levels; improve standards of legal aid providing and facilitate the effective implementation of self-government functions.

The Program consists of four training modules, covering the most important aspects of legal practice, namely attorney-client relations, building collateral relations in the justice system, communication within the legal society, public relations and media.