JustGroup and NaUKMA have launched a dialogue platform for the students of law

We have been thinking about building bridges between students and practitioners of the criminal justice system for a long time, and we are sincerely happy to take the first steps toward this goal. JustGroup, together with the Faculty of Law of the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, has launched the JustStudents dialogue platform where young people can talk frankly with practitioners about criminal justice and the role of a lawyer in it.

«We are thinking about how to attract Ukrainian young lawyers to the national criminal justice system. A fresh and lively look at transformations will be more than valuable. Therefore, we went to Ukrainian law schools to show young lawyers criminal justice, enable them to get acquainted with role models who work, and make the criminal justice system fairer as early as now. Perhaps for some of these young lawyers, this public sector will become a future employer, and we will all get a cohort of bright and motivated investigators, detectives, prosecutors, lawyers, and judges, “says Vasylyna Yavorska, leader of the JustGroup team.

Since April 2024, we have organized three meetings with criminal justice practitioners. The first meeting-discussion with students was held with the participation of Oleksandra Yanovska, judge of the Cassation Criminal Court within the Supreme Court, and Dean of the Faculty of Legal Sciences of the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” (NaUKMA) Volodymyr Venher. In a conversation with students, Oleksandra Yanovska shared her vision and understanding of the role of a judge, spoke about curious and problematic cases that happened in her work, and emphasized the importance of changing approaches to the training and development of lawyers.

“It is worth remembering that the court is not a business, it is not a place where you can make money. A judge should not be a person who has not yet become a specialist and does not enjoy authority over his/her colleagues. A young man cannot be a judge too. You don’t have to go to court to perfect yourself. You must already be competent, perfect, and honest. You already must be an expert, “said the guest. 

The speaker of the second meeting was Marharyta Sokorenko, the Commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. The guest told the students about her decision to become a lawyer and her first steps in the profession, about the peculiarities of work and gradual positive changes in the public sector, as well as about the principles of teamwork.

“My choice of profession was conscious. In our senior years at university, we studied ‘Protection of Human Rights through International Institutions’. I already knew about the ECHR, that Ukraine is one of the leaders in applying to the ECHR. And I was interested in working on behalf of the state,” said Ms. Marharyta.

“The moderator of this dialog platform was Kateryna Busol, Docent of the Department of International and European Law at the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”. Her experience and knowledge added dynamics and content to this meeting.

In June, the third and last meeting of the 2023-2024 season was held with Ihor Ponochovnyi, the Head of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and the city of Sevastopol. The moderator of this event was Daria Svyrydova, the AZONES Law Firm partner, a lawyer with more than 10 years of experience in human rights protection.

The speaker talked about the peculiarities of the work of the prosecutor’s office without access to the territories, about cooperation with the International Criminal Court, registration of criminal offenses on the territory of Crimea, and what role OSINT plays in it.

“We closely cooperate with non-governmental organizations that have more opportunities to communicate with people on the territory of the Crimea. After all, people are afraid to communicate with us directly. Therefore, the lion’s share of the crimes we have discovered works with open sources,” the prosecutor noted.

In total, more than 100 students attended meetings with criminal justice practitioners. Those are the students from the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, the National Academy of Internal Affairs, and others.

We are convinced that the young people received insights that will encourage them to actively research the criminal justice system. We will make every effort to make the meetings in the new school season as interesting and informative as possible.