Working with students

The skill needed in criminal defence cannot be passed on in a lecture. Students learn to state and hold a position before someone who may decide against them only in an adversarial setting — with a case problem, two sides and a judge. That is why the firm works with student organisations through the work it actually does, rather than through talks about the profession.

Current partnerships

Two partnerships are active and each has a start date. Both are with student organisations, rather than individual courses or one-off events.

ELSA Kyiv — general partner since 5 June 2023 ELSA — The European Law Students’ Association — is an international non-profit organisation of law students with local groups in many cities, including Kyiv. The firm is the general partner of the Kyiv group.

Work with ELSA began before the partnership and was built around specific roles: the firm’s founding partner authored case problems for moot court competitions and took part as a trainer, speaker and competition judge.

Student Parliament of the KNU Institute of Law — memorandum since 8 September 2023 A memorandum on a strategic partnership with the Student Parliament of the Institute of Law at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. The arrangement covers four areas: the firm’s advocates taking part in the Institute’s educational events, practical-skills workshops, meetings with the firm’s founders and internships.

Ways in which the firm takes part

Moot court competitions The firm writes the case problem, trains teams and judges competitions. The problem is based on the firm’s areas of practice — criminal proceedings, anti-corruption proceedings and covert investigative (search) actions. It is therefore constructed like a real case, without names or identifying circumstances, rather than as a classroom exercise.

Practice-focused workshops and lectures The subjects are those the firm works with every day: what to do during a search or arrest, the admissibility of evidence, the limits of interference with private communications, and applications to the European Court of Human Rights. Each session is led by an advocate who handles such cases, not a visiting lecturer.

Meetings with the founders This format is provided for in the memorandum with the KNU Institute of Law and is open to other organisations: a conversation about how work on a case is organised, with answers to questions a student would not ask in a lecture.

Internships and placements for law students Internships are identified as a separate area both in the memorandum with the KNU Institute of Law and in the partnership with ELSA Kyiv. Terms and open positions are set out separately — Careers

Placement hosts for universities Students complete educational and work placements under an agreement between the university and the placement host. The firm considers requests from departments and faculties through the same process as proposals from student organisations.

A student placement and a statutory advocate traineeship are different — and so is who pays

The route to a certificate authorising practice as an advocate includes a stage that universities do not explain. After passing the qualification examination, a person undertakes a six-month traineeship under an advocate, on referral from the regional bar council. The traineeship is paid for by the trainee: 70 per cent of the contribution goes to the traineeship supervisor and 30 per cent to the bodies of advocate self-government (Article 10 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Bar and Legal Practice”).

In other words, by law, the future advocate pays for the practical knowledge they receive from an advocate. That is how entry into the profession is structured.

A student placement with the firm is not a traineeship under Article 10 and does not replace one: that traineeship begins later, after the examination, and on its own terms. But the substance of working alongside an advocate is the same — tasks within client engagements, deadlines and the cost of error. The firm neither charges for the placement nor pays a salary: no payment is made in either direction.

This answers the question asked most often. There is no salary for a placement — not as a cost saving for the firm, but as a boundary of the format itself. What it offers is a place alongside an advocate: something that, later in this profession, people pay to obtain. Places are limited.

If you are a student

There are two routes, and both work.

You do not belong to a student organisation That is not a barrier: membership is not required, and applicants without an organisation are considered on the same basis. Write to us directly — but send a motivation letter, not an application form. A one-line CV does not answer the only question asked here: why criminal defence, why this firm, and what you want to learn to do. State your year of study and university too, but the year does not decide the outcome. Not everyone is accepted, and a refusal does not mean that you are unsuited: it means there is one place.

You already belong to a partner organisation If that is ELSA Kyiv or the Student Parliament of the KNU Institute of Law, apply through the organisation. It is quicker and simpler: the arrangement is already in place, the format need not be agreed from scratch, and your application proceeds within an existing partnership rather than as a separate letter from someone the firm does not know.

If you represent an organisation or university

The firm does not select between student organisations by size, city or university. There is one criterion: the format must concern an area of law in which the firm practises. Write to us and include four things — email: info@ys.legal

• the organisation or university and your role in it;
• the format — competition, workshop, meeting or placement;
• the dates by which you need a response;
• what you need from the firm — a case problem, trainer, judge, speaker or placement host.

One point should be made separately to departments and student organisations because it is not widely known: an advocate traineeship under Article 10 of the Law is paid for by the trainee. A student placement here is not treated as equivalent to that traineeship, but offers the same kind of experience — at no charge to either the student or the university.

The firm does not promise employment after a placement or competition and does not charge students or organisations to take part in these formats.

Both partnerships are described in the firm’s news.

• ELSA Kyiv
• KNU Institute of Law