Four Members of the Program Elected to Free Legal Aid Supervisory Board
The winners in the competition for the election of members of the Supervisory Board of the Free Legal Aid Coordination Centre are Andrii Vyshnevsky, Program Manager of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program, a Program Expert Roman Martynovsky, a graduate and trainer assistant of the Program Tamara Bugaiets, and a Program graduate Khrystyna Kit. The Ministry of Justice announced the results of the competition on Wednesday, March 18.
Congratulations to the winners on behalf of the community and the team!
The Supervisory Board consists of nine members. In total 53 candidates were admitted to the competition. According Valeria Kolomiets, Deputy Minister of Justice and a graduate of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program, the term of office of the members of the Supervisory Board may not exceed five years, taking into account the procedure of updating its composition.
“The Supervisory Board ensures the effective implementation of state policy in the field of legal aid, independence and transparency of the management of the system of free legal aid (FLA). It will provide an objective assessment of the operation of the system,”– Valeria Kolomiets reflected on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
Tamara Bugaiets, a graduate and assistant trainer of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program:
“The free legal aid system has been a part of my professional life since January 1, 2013. I will never forget my first call as a lawyer for the FLA system. I arrived at a girl’s detention at night, and we left the police department sometime in the morning. Police officers were a little confused, as was my client, and I was pleased with the result, as her detention was a violation of human rights. Unfortunately, the next day, my client refused my services, so it was my turn to be confused, while the investigator seemed happy with such outcome.
Coming out of the police station that day, I realized that the system needed time to grow and strengthen people’s belief in the system, needed like-minded people to support the system, needed skilled system workers and professional attorneys to share its values. All this has been done already, but there is still more to be done, further changes and improvements to be made. Now I want to be not just a part of the free legal aid system, I want to be one of the agents of changes, changes that will improve the system and take it to a new level. I am extremely pleased to receive the tremendous confidence from the selection board of the Supervisory Board that accepted my nomination. It is a great honor and responsibility for me. No doubt, this is a new stage of my professional life.”
Andrii Vyshnevsky, Program Manager of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program, Chair of the Board of Transparency International Ukraine; from 2011 to 2017, he led the creation and development of a free legal aid system:
“The initial composition of the Supervisory Board is strong. First, there is no person with no experience in FLA, from FLA or for FLA. Secondly, it has two representatives who formed the basis for the FLA system before it appeared. Third, it has two lawyers from two different regions who have started working with the system since the first days of its operation. Fourth, there are full members of the two highest self-governing bodies and a representative of UNBA. Fifth, there is one of the many international partners of the FLA system. Sixth, there are leaders of NGOs involved in the de-occupation of the Crimea and Sevastopol, the protection of the rights of internally displaced persons and issues of equal rights and opportunities for women and men. Finally, there are three former executives of the Free Legal Aid Coordination Center. One third of the board are women (there is something to work on in the future). The important and responsible business of creating yet another positive precedent in institution building is ahead”.
Full text of the comment is available by the link.
Khrystyna Kit, co-founder of the Ukrainian Women Lawyers Association “JurFem”, a graduate of the first season of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program:
“Being elected a member of the Supervisory Board of the Free Legal Aid Coordination Center is a great honor and responsibility to me. For two years, the Ukrainian Women Lawyers Association “JurFem” has worked together with the FLA system to implement a gender strategy and to provide quality gender sensitive services. I will continue to support the system in this direction. I am glad to be able to work with such a wonderful team and thank you for your trust.”
We also congratulate Oksana Kadenko, 
Vadym Krasnyk, Andrii Misyats, Serhii Trotsenko, and Dmytro Filipenko with the election of to the Supervisory Board.
Winning the competition is always a confidence boost. Ahead is a lot of teamwork to develop a system of free assistance for the benefit of society. We want to be supporters and fighters for European values for the sake of the public good!
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The opinions expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not reflect the position 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 “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program was launched in 2016 and first implemented within the “Quality and Accessible Legal Aid” Project, carried out by the Canadian Bureau for International Education with the support of the Government of Canada in cooperation with the Legal Aid Coordination Centre. It is currently being implemented and developed with the support of the US Embassy’s Law Enforcement Section in Ukraine, the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” NGO, in partnership with the Ukrainian Bar Association and the Bar Association of Legal Aid Providers.
