Program Participant Involved in the Formation of a New Profession of Private Enforcement Officers in Ukraine

On May 23, 2017 as reported by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, according to the results of the qualifying examination, the first ten individuals received access to the profession of a private enforcement officer.

For Ukraine, and especially for the legal community, this event is truly remarkable, as we were waiting for it since December 2014, when the first presentation of the concept of reforming the system of execution of court decisions was developed, taking into account the leading experience of the countries of the European Union. Already in January 2015, the active process of drafting bills on reforming the enforcement system in Ukraine began. The Competition Law Committee of the Ukrainian Bar Association, headed by a participant of “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program, Ms Iryna Serbin, was actively involved in the development of the relevant draft laws, along with such leading international organizations as the OSCE, IFC, the EU Project “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine”, Commercial Law Center and others.

Following the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of these bills, the practical implementation of the reform of enforcement of judicial decisions has begun. One of the first steps was the formation of a new profession – private enforcement officers, who can access the profession through the appropriate training and upon successful examination (which consists of three stages of theoretical and practical tasks).

As the chairman of the Competition Law Committee of the Ukrainian Bar Association together with the representatives of the Center for Commercial Law, a representative of the EU Project “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine”, a participant of the Tomorrow’s Lawyer Program, Mr Iryna Serbin, observed the examinations of the persons who intend to become private enforcement officers.

“It was quite fascinating to observe the practical realization of what was laid out “on paper” on the basis of difficult discussions, and of course I could not stay away from this process. Most of those who first passed the exam have demonstrated high professionalism. The exam, frankly speaking, was very difficult. The newly-made private enforcement officers now bear incredible responsibilities, since being the first is always difficult, but I hope that it is these people who were not afraid to take a risk, will set a bar high for the followers and become an example and benchmark for the profession. Without any doubt, I believe that ensuring the enforcement of judgments in Ukraine will raise, first of all, the trust of citizens in judicial proceedings as a whole and will enable, upon receipt of an honest judicial decision, to get its due fulfillment. We are building a lawful state together!”- commented Iryna Serbin.

We are very pleased to see that Iryna has been working on such an important process and has observed the transparency and openness of the exam by future private enforcement officers.

Dear participants, the Tomorrow’s Lawyer Program will be happy to receive and share with the entire community of the Program your success stories and professional life events. Please email us at info@tomorrowslawyer.org.