Third Group Completed the Last Program Module
Starting from December 1 till December 3, 2017, the third group of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program was attending the fourth module devoted to the communication with the public and media, as well as the role of advocacy, as the support for the reforms and changes is one of the cross-cutting topics of the Program. To this end, participants required to master the skills that enable lawyers to become agents of change.
During the module, participants had a discussion on the cooperation of lawyers with journalists, having read the results interviews conducted within the Program. Among other things, the lawyers practiced speaking before the camera, sharpened interviewing skills and worked out the common position of the advocate’s team on communication strategies in particular cases. Also, being divided into several groups, lawyers have developed advocacy programs for some important and relevant initiatives, using the theoretical knowledge gained from the module.
As a good tradition, the opening of the module was attended by the Chairman of the Bar Council of Odessa region, Yosyp Bronz, who reminded in his speech of the role of lawyers in society: “We must always remember Connie’s words: the legal profession is not only a means of earning money; the legal profession is a service to society”. Also the training was attended by the ex-president of the Ukrainian Bar Association Denys Bugay with a presentation on “7 key elements of effective advocacy for changes in the legal field”.
The participants of this course were trained by Tetyana Troshchinska and Larysa Denysenko. The experts of the Program were accompanied by Andriy Kostin and Dmitry Kuhniuk.
The topics of the three-day training covered the following issues:
- Mutual stereotypes between lawyers and journalists. Logic and the needs of media;
- Ethics of the lawyer and journalist’s ethics;
- Toxic lexicon in lawyer’s communication. The balance between professional vocabulary and accessibility;
- Identification of a lawyer with a client and public perception: communication strategies in the resonance cases;
- Exercise of media skills;
- The practical issues of holding advocacy campaigns.
It was extremely enjoyable to receive the feedback from the participants on the results of the entire program:
“I feel that I must become agent of change in the Bar. I know that my colleagues need to know more about the rules of ethics, about the role of lawyer in public life. I consider spreading the word about this as my own mission for the near future!”
“I discovered the role of a lawyer in self-government. Before, I took no interest in self-government but now I realize that every lawyer should take an active part in the local self-government, because its efficiency depends upon each of us.”
The photo-report of the training can be found by the link.
