Canadian experts met with lawyers from Odesa and Kyiv region – Quality and Accessible Legal Aid in Ukraine Project

On 30 May 2016, regular meetings of the delegation representatives of the Canadian Bureau for International Education and the Canadian Bar Association with Ukrainian lawyers and representatives of lawyers’ self-government bodies took place in Kyiv and Odesa, as a part of the preparation of “The Tomorrow’s Lawyer” initiative.

Thus, in Kyiv, the president of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) John Hoyles, who came to Ukraine with an official visit for the first time, met with leaders and members of the Ukrainian Bar Association with a view to determining further steps in the cooperation process.

Yesterday, John Hoyles also paid a number of visits to leading law firms in Ukraine. And today, on 31 May, visits of the CBA president to the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and a working meeting with the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine are planned.

“It is a great honor for us to welcome the head of the Canadian Bar Association, an organization that has many common features with the Ukrainian Bar Association. We have great plans for further cooperation between the two organizations, which we will be able to discuss in details during the meetings“, commented Denys Buhai, the UBA President.

Meanwhile, following a series of informative evaluation sessions in Kyiv and Lviv, which took place in the previous days, the delegation, composed of Kimberly Inksater, International Programs Head of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), Sarah MacKenzie, a lawyer-coordinator of Legislation & Law Reforms Department at the CBA, Oksana Kikot, Manager of the QALA Project, and Viktoriia Mitko, Chairman of the Board of NGO “All-Ukrainian Association of Layers Providing Free Legal Aid”, visited Odesa.

The meeting was attended by head of the Bar Council of Odesa region Yosyf Bronz, head of the Ukrainian Bar Association Office Yurii Sergeiev, Managing Partner of the Legal Bureau of the Sergeiev Family, Andrii Kostin, Deputy Head of the Bar Council of Odesa region, and head of the Qualifications and Disciplinary Bar Commission of Odesa region Nataliia Rudnytska.

It should be recalled that within “The Tomorrow’s Lawyer” initiative, a professional training program for lawyers will be implemented, which will include skills development, so-called “soft skills“, that will be useful in the work of every lawyer and will strengthen the level of the professional training of lawyers in general.

“We were delighted to meet with the representatives of the Bar of Odesa region, which has a long history, strong traditions and considerable experience in mentoring and legal community development. This experience will be certainly useful in the planning and development of a future training program for lawyers in Ukraine“, said Oksana Kikot.

In addition, in Odesa, the Canadian experts met with lawyers who provide free legal aid in Odesa region and are members of a standalone division of the NGO “All-Ukrainian Association of Lwayers Providing Free Legal Aid” in Odesa region; and the representatives of the Regional FSLA Center in Odesa region.

“At this meeting, our lawyers were asking about the principles of the LA organization in Canada, the peculiarities of access to lawyer’s profession in this country, and the protection of clients’ rights. Lawyers expressed interest in training programs on skills of communication with clients, other members of the judiciary, as well as joint training programs for lawyers, judges and prosecutors; training sessions on efficient time management and mediation“, said Viktoriia Mitko.

Visit of Canadian experts organized with the support of the QALA Project.

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