In Search of One’s Path: The Second Program on Exploring the Lawyer’s Vocation
“The path of vocation is the path of serving the beauty that touches the heart,” Oleksandr Filonenko
The need to pause and rethink one’s professional path is something lawyers cannot always afford amid daily challenges. Yet these very conversations bring us back to what truly matters: what leads us into the profession, what keeps us in it during times of instability, and where to find inner grounding. That is why, for the second year in a row, we completed the Program on Exploring the Lawyer’s Vocation together with philosopher Oleksandr Filonenko — in places that preserve Ukrainian wisdom and in the company of people who work for meaningful change.
In 2025, the program brought together a diverse community: investigators, detectives, prosecutors, judges, lawyers, and academics. Nearly 40 participants joined with their own professional questions — yet all with a sincere readiness to reflect on vocation, responsibility, and the virtues without which justice loses its meaning.
Our journey consisted of several meetings from September to November, each revealing a new dimension of professional identity. At Saint Sophia of Kyiv, we began with the fundamentals: what it means to live one’s own life rather than someone else’s, and how to find that inner point from which resilience begins. We read Skovoroda, spoke about freedom, and reflected on virtues as the foundation of any profession. Hryhorii Kovalenko played a crucial role during this session — his tour and explanations of Sophia’s symbols helped us deeply experience the place where we spoke about vocation. He provided a context in which the conversation became not only about the profession, but also about Ukrainian heritage and identity.
“This Program forms a unique community where asking non-obvious questions and searching for ways to create solutions becomes natural. Through the works of Hryhorii Skovoroda, Immanuel Kant, Aristotle, Hannah Arendt, Carlo Collodi, and symbolic places of Ukrainian statehood, the vector of a lawyer’s professional role acquires beauty and resilience. At the same time, the intention to search — an expression of subjectivity — already creates space for answers. Sometimes the journey itself becomes the answer. I truly believe that conscious, aligned work of lawyers, where the energy of judgment is produced, can create change in the societies we live in,” said Liliia Oliinyk, attorney.
At the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the conversation shifted toward the responsibility of both communities and of people capable of transformation. We reflected on the crisis of strategic thinking in Ukraine, on attentiveness to reality, and on why virtues become essential precisely during wartime. Many participants discovered the Lavra from a completely new perspective, realising its significance for shaping democratic, independent Ukraine.
“The program felt holistic, and every space — everything that happened within it — was filled with meanings that complemented one another. The visit to the Lavra became the most valuable for me: I realized that it is not only one of the most important Orthodox shrines of Eastern Europe, but also a place that was a center of statehood and remains a powerful symbol of our national identity,” mentioned Iryna Samborska, Prosecutor, Office of the Prosecutor General.
The third meeting was dedicated to Dante Alighieri and the question of “deferred life.” Oleksandr became our guide through the Inferno and Purgatory of the Divine Comedy, helping us better understand what inner transformation means and how happiness is born.
“The strongest thought that stayed with me is that vocation exists when your professional activity brings you the same joy as your hobby. While my understanding of my vocation has not fundamentally changed, the program helped clarify the categories we use to talk about vocation and articulate my own ideas more precisely. For me, the most valuable part was the shared space of thinking, where we could openly discuss the most fascinating questions related to the legal profession,” stressed Pavlo Demchuk, Senior Legal Adviser, Transparency International Ukraine.
The final meeting, through the story of Pinocchio, brought us back to human interactions. We explored how ideas emerge, how trust is formed, and why communities grow out of small groups. These small groups become incubators of innovation, allowing us to see not just a “network of contacts,” but a woven fabric of meanings and real human connections.
“We completed a series of meetings where, through symbols of journeys, reflections of our own nature, and the search for truth, we touched the essence of a lawyer’s vocation. Gradually, it became clear: we are in the right place when the heart feels the need to nurture and develop what we do every day. It is in this inner alignment with the profession that true meaning — and quiet, steady happiness — are born. I am grateful to everyone who shared this path of discovery,” said Oksana Vozniuk, Judge, Bila Tserkva City District Court.
Our exploration of vocation continues. We are already working on the next step — a new edition of the program planned for 2026. Because vocation is not a destination, but a path that opens each time anew.
Photo: Anna Putylina
