Tomorrow’s Lawyer Program – Key Experts Announced
KYIV – 30 November 2016. We are happy to announce the key experts of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” training program, namely:
Sergiy Goncharenko, advocate, PhD, professor, Head of Human Rights, International and European Law Department at the Academy of Advocacy of Ukraine, Honoured Lawyer of Ukraine;
Olga Zhukovska, advocate, PhD, Honoured Lawyer of Ukraine, member of the UEFA Appeals Committee, Vice-President of the Union of Advocates of Ukraine;
Dmitry Kuhnyuk, advocate, PhD, Associate Professor at Kyiv National University after Taras Shevchenko managing partner at Miller, Kuhnyuk & Partners Attorneys-at-Law;
Volodymyr Sushchenko, PhD, Associate Professor at Law Faculty of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, Executive Director of the Rule of Law Research Centre, Honoured Lawyer of Ukraine;
Oleksandra Yanovska, Doctor of Law, Professor of the Department of Justice at Kyiv National University after Taras Shevchenko, ad hoc judge of the ECHR.
Each expert will support the training modules, contribute to the program development, bring the experience and knowledge to the implementation of the program.
Also actively involved with the program will be Andriy Kostin, advocate, Deputy Chairman of Bar Council of Odesa Region.
“The Tomorrow’s Lawyer is the leader of the mission to improve the state of protecting the rights not only of the individual but also the legal health of the entire society. It is a bright personality, an inspirational master of legal defense, an inferior helper for man and, at the same time, an equal participant in dialogue with a legislator, the leader of the aspirations of society and eternal human values in the fast-paced time. His heart and mind are not indifferent. He is driven by the thirst for action, changing the world for the better. The modest role of the “servant of law” is not for him, he is a participant in an effective dialogue with both the judiciary and the legislator. His vocation is to use the law to protect human rights and, to a lesser extent, influence the formation of the law and the worldview of society. This is a strong player who is able to win the chess party with the state apparatus and initiate the adaptation of the rules of the game, that is, the law, to the interests of citizens. He is not a contemplative, but a reformer, – said Olga Zhukovska. – The Tomorrow’s Lawyer Program attracted the focus on forming a new generation of advocate’s elite closer to today’s challenges and, at the same time, focused on preserving and enhancing the best traditions of the law profession. I have devoted more than 25 years of my life precisely to this purpose in particular, I have developed the Rules of Advocate’s Ethics for the Next Generation of Lawyers”.
According to Oleksandra Yanovska, a successful lawyer embraces not only the professional knowledge and material resources. He is known for the respect for colleagues, recognition in the legal community, the authority among the younger generation of lawyers and a sense of dignity. All these features characterize a successful lawyer – a tomorrow’s lawyer. Unfortunately, today’s system of education and practical advocacy do not provide lawyers with the necessary palette of theoretical knowledge and practical tools that would guarantee a high level of professionalism, a proper communication culture and ethical standards of advocacy. “That is why I am very impressed with the ambitious program “Tomorrow’s Lawyer”, which is intended to give impetus to the formation of a new elite of the advocacy community by providing lawyers with the necessary knowledge and skills regarding the strategy and tactics of advocacy, the strengthening of communication ties between lawyers, the development of professional psychological techniques and the formation of high moral and ethical approaches to understanding the role of advocacy in society “, – emphasizes Mrs. Yanovska.
“I cannot imagine the tomorrow’s lawyer beyond the broader context – the tomorrow’s legal profession, the tomorrow’s legal system and, ultimately, the tomorrow’s Ukraine. For me, this Program is another small attempt, no matter how pathetically it sounds, to build a world in which I would like to live”, – Sergiy Goncharenko quoted as saying. – The tomorrow’s lawyer, in my opinion, has a lot of faces: it is a fiery fighter, and a quiet office worker, a capital star, and provincial artisan. All they are very different, but they share a common desire for positive change. The tomorrow’s lawyer, as I see him, is a free and courageous person with strong voice and position, who value dignity and justice, instead of “Maybakhs” and “Rolexes”. We mean a professional, who is able not only to mechanically reproduce the skills acquired earlier or to transfer the created other knowledge, but to generate fundamentally new ideas and to build another, better legal reality”.
“This program has attracted me by an unconventional approach to improving the professional capacity of lawyers, as well as its focus on the formation of the professional qualities of a tomorrow’s lawyer of our country, experiencing a transitional period on the path of becoming a legal European state. The program attracts me because I feel the need, the ability and opportunity to transfer my own life and professional experience and knowledge “, – says Volodymyr Sushchenko. According to him, the Tomorrow’s Lawyer of Ukraine is a lawyer for whom the desire to provide legal services to a person who needs them is not only the implementation of professional duty, but also a manifestation of internal indifference and need, a call to help others, using the whole arsenal of their professional knowledge, skills and abilities, while showing responsibility to them and the community of law for their professional actions and everyday behavior.
According to Dmytro Kuhnyuk, a tomorrow’s lawyer is a professional who has not only solid theoretical knowledge and developed practical skills in a certain area, but also skillfully possesses communication skills and beliefs, able to build trustful relationships with the client, is a leader in the professional community, active member of self-government and professional non-governmental organizations, has high ethical standards, constantly works on his professional development and self-improvement, is aware of the important social role of the advocacy in a democratic society, the protection of human rights and the administration of justice, is not indifferent to the processes taking place in our legal system and is ready to invest time in the development of national advocacy on the basis of best international practices. “The Tomorrow’s Lawyer Program attracted me with an unprecedented concept of a lawyer’s professional development, the opportunity to personally participate in the process of qualitative changes in the bar, work in a team of colleagues who are among the best lawyers, expectations of interesting and useful communication, the possibility of obtaining new knowledge and skills”, – said Dmytro Kukhnyuk.
Andriy Kostin believes that one of the main objectives of this Program is to remind lawyers that a true lawyer fulfills a great public function of protecting human rights and freedoms. Thanks to the Program, he sees the opportunity to communicate to active colleagues the idea of the place and role that a lawyer and lawyer must play in a democratic society. In addition to representing a client in a particular case, lawyers also protect human rights in general. “Lawyers should remember the human rights function of their professional activities, because they are seeking change in court practice and as a consequence of changes in the law”, – said Andriy.
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“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 — the 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.
We welcome lawyers from all over Ukraine who have experience of advocacy for more than two years, active public position, have been involved in the processes of improving the provision of legal assistance, have their own vision and ideas about reforms in the field of justice and are ready to work on improving the legal system of the country to apply for the program.
The selection of participants will be conducted by questionnaires and, if necessary, interviews. Applications for participation in the first pilot project are accepted until December 9, 2016 inclusive. The start of training is scheduled for February 2017 and will take place in four cities of the country – Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa and Kharkiv.
