In 2019, the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) launched a bachelor's degree law course at the UCU Law School, with as Asters as general partner of the course. The partnership, aimed at improvement of legal education in Ukraine, includes expert and financial support.
Within the framework of the partnership, Asters participated in a number of educational initiatives:
- Head of Nordic and French Desks Damien Magrou delivered a lecture and explained the importance of learning EU legislation for Ukrainian lawyers
- Counsel Dmytro Shemelin shared his experience of professional development in the field of international dispute resolution
- The UCU Law School supported by Asters organised and held a presentation of the Ukrainian edition of the book "The Principle of the Majority" by Volodymyr Starosolskiy, Law Career Day 2.0 and Legaltech@UA: opportunities and illusions
The firm also offers talented law students to get practical experience during internships. In 2019-2020, the UCU Law School's students Illya Pidghayniy, Mykola Guk and Andriy Lupak completed internships in Asters' Tech & Comms and Criminal Law practices.
'Internship in a law firm is a test for intelligence, ingenuity and flexibility. I received useful knowledge and skills that will help at the beginning of my career. The most important thing that I realised is that being a part of the team is more challenging than to work individually. At the same time, teamwork has many advantages — you are not dealing with the tasks alone and you can always ask your colleague for advice' – says Andriy Lupak.
Commenting on the partnership Aster's Partner and Member of UCU Law School's Advisory Board Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi, mentions: "We are proud of our partnership with the UCU and are planning to support young lawyers in the future. In spring 2022, Asters' experts will hold a series of workshops for students on topical legal issues, such as legal regulation of financial services, cybersport, and others. Asters' lawyers developed new courses on natural resources, international humanitarian, environmental and family law to be launched at the UCU Law School at the beginning of the new academic year".
"Over the past 30 years, Ukrainian legal education and legal practice have existed and have been developing in two separate worlds. Systematic collaboration between the UCU Law School and law firms, such as Asters, set a new trend of active engagement and interaction between academia and legal practice. Support of the market leader providing top quality services to its clients is an outstanding contribution to the development of the new generation of legal practitioners" – Svitlana Khyliuk, Head of the UCU Law School, comments.
Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) is a private non-profit institution of higher education that provides students with world-class education, employing the best international traditions of the catholic education from the leading European universities.
Asters is the largest law firm in Ukraine with offices in Kyiv, Washington D.C., London and Brussels. In 2020 and 2021, the firm was recognised as the most socially responsible law firm in Ukraine according to the annual PLS Top Teams research held by Legal Practice weekly.
