What modern legal education should be and the role of lawyers in society

[ad_1]

We often hear that Ukrainians have a great demand for justice. Resonant and dubious court decisions, arbitrariness of authorities, and now also violence and murders on the part of the occupier. All this further strengthens the desire to achieve justice.

An effective justice system should respond to this request, but so far it does not do so or does not do so fully.

This is not primarily due to the fact that lawyers generally do not understand the mission of their profession in society, because this is not taught in law schools. So why and how should lawyers be trained to meet modern challenges and ensure the achievement of justice in society?

Stepan Berko – lawyer, academic director and teacher of the bachelor’s program in Law at the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) shared his opinion. Stepan has experience in both the private and public sectors.

For almost 5 years, he worked in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, heading the legal department and the normative design center of the Samopomich Association faction in the parliament.

In recent years, he managed the direction of judicial reform advocacy at the “DEJURE Foundation” analytical center.

Why are lawyers important to society?

Lawyers as a profession are critically important to society, just like doctors and the military. After all, without skilled doctors it is difficult to save the lives of people inside the country, without strong armed forces it is impossible to protect the state and the people from external aggression, and without honest lawyers it is unrealistic to protect the rights and freedoms of people, to build a society in which they will be valued and protected.

The justice system and the organization of government in general is impossible without the participation of lawyers. It is they who make and ensure the implementation of laws, and the prosecution of violators.

And it depends on them whether these laws meet the interests of society. Will they protect people’s rights or vice versa – will they create conditions for arbitrary decisions and injustice.

Therefore, it is important that lawyers are aware of their mission. If this is not the case, then instead, bad rules are formed, which are carried out haphazardly and do not meet people’s fair expectations.

Due to the Russian war against Ukraine, the demand for justice is only growing. In order for the state to be able to cope with this, lawyers with high-quality education and an understanding of the importance of the mission entrusted to them by society are needed.

Unfortunately, now in Ukraine, there are a lot of “law faculties” that produce diplomas, but there are few real law schools. Therefore, one of the main tasks of my work together with my colleagues at KSE is to become an example of a progressive law school that forms valuable lawyers who are aware of their mission and have all the knowledge and skills to implement it.

And thus, creating quality competition in the market, change it. If this is not done now, it is difficult to hope for an effective justice system in our country even after 20 years.

About modern approaches to the study of law

Often in universities, they are forced to memorize laws and legal texts, without explaining why they are the way they are, and not otherwise, and what their purpose is. Therefore, when the law changes, such a lawyer remains without a foundation. Who needed these memorized articles?

At KSE, we place the main emphasis on the student’s understanding of the nature of legal phenomena.

Then he will feel confident even in the conditions of the new regulatory framework, because he understands the purpose of creating a specific rule of law, what rights and interests and who exactly it should protect.

Moreover, the student should be able to critically assess the law: does it meet the purpose for which it was adopted; Is it well written to achieve this goal? Or maybe such a law is not needed at all?

It is practically impossible to do this by studying legal texts.

Therefore, we pay great attention to the development of students’ critical thinking and the methodology of working with legal texts. Already from the first year, we teach students:

• methods of legal analysis;
• tools for interpreting legal texts;
• building arguments and writing legal documents;
• legal rhetoric, i.e. ways of persuasively conveying one’s opinion.

Ethics in the legal profession occupies a special place in our program. It is the lack of ethical guidelines, the tolerance of dishonesty, including academic dishonesty, that has a direct impact on what our justice system looks like.

Judges who see no problem in contemptuous communication with the parties; prosecutors who blindly follow “instructions from above”; lawyers who can “solve any case in your favor”, even if it will not be legal; officials who are not known how they obtained their academic degrees.

Sometimes a behavior is not prohibited by law, but being unethical, it exacerbates people’s sense of injustice and creates distrust in the justice system.

It is important for future lawyers not only to know what is legal and ethical, but also to learn to understand and feel these subtleties, and most importantly – to follow the highest ethical standards in their practice.

That is why at KSE ethics in the legal profession will be taught already in the first year.

How is studying at KSE arranged?

We want to first give our students a foundation, something without which you cannot become a high-quality lawyer. And then every student will string on it those elements of his education in which he will be interested and in which he will be able to develop his talents.

Thus forming its unique training program. Therefore, in the first year completely, and in the second year mainly, KSE students will master the mandatory basic subjects.

This is the history and philosophy of law, constitutional, civil criminal law, ethics and legal methods, which was discussed earlier. And, of course, the English language, without which quality education cannot be obtained.

During the first year, students will study English intensively in order to be able to study fully English-language courses, including from foreign teachers.

Starting from the second year, the student has the opportunity to additionally choose those specialized courses that interest him.

At this point, the student will have a better understanding of his professional future and what he wants to do. The fourth year of study will be formed by students themselves, since all disciplines will be optional.

We already have agreements with teachers from leading American universities, in particular Pittsburgh and Stanford, to teach individual courses at KSE.

Therefore, we are now actively encouraging young people to return home by offering grant programs so that they can get an international education here and stay to work at home.

This will allow our students not only to gain knowledge and skills from leading foreign teachers, but also to study together with their American peers.

We will encourage our students to study not only specialized legal disciplines. Students can take courses from other programs – economics, art, literature, etc. Because high-quality higher education should be universal and form a person with a broad outlook.

Also, from the 2nd year of study, we strongly encourage students to do internships. They will be able to do it in the best law firms, courts, prosecutor’s office or other authorities.

We also plan to open a legal clinic on the basis of KSE, where our students will be able to provide free legal advice to those who need it.

In this way, the student will consolidate the acquired knowledge and gain useful skills and experience that will give him a competitive advantage after graduation.

To sum up, the modern approach to studying law is based on the fact that a person does not memorize what will not be needed in practice, but understands the essence and nature of this or that legal phenomenon.

We are in favor of students always questioning everything and looking for answers, thereby developing critical thinking.

After all, higher education is not about coercion, but about a person’s desire to learn. Therefore, at KSE we have created a place where students will feel comfortable and want to spend their time not only in studies, but also in social interaction with others, exchanging experiences and expanding their horizons.

We believe that it is in such conditions that students will be able to fully reveal their talents, become real lawyers – professional, competitive, free and aware of their mission to ensure justice.

[ad_2]

Original Source Link