On April 18, 2025, within the framework of the implementation of the EU Erasmus+ PROMENT project “Promoting professional education and active participation of students through the formation of a comprehensive system of mentoring and tutoring in higher education institutions” under the scheme “Mentoring for IDP students”, the first event “Legal Networking: Your Start into the Future” was held offline.

The event took place at the youth space “Wave”.

The event was organized and conducted by Tetyana Pustovoitenko, a mentor of the Mentoring for IDP Students scheme.

The goal  of networking is to provide an opportunity for future lawyers to gain experience, make new acquaintances, and learn about existing vacancies in the legal field. Participants learned about interesting real-world experience in various areas of law from current practitioners; had the opportunity to get an internship at a law firm; and gained a deeper understanding of various areas of legal practice.

The invited speakers were Dmytro Slobodyanyuk, managing partner of the RELIANCE law firm, attorney; Yuriy Tymoshyn, attorney; Olena Ipatenko, deputy director of the Southern Interregional Center for Free Legal Aid; and Kateryna Borovska, leading lawyer of the NGO “Desyate Avrya”.

The event took place in the format of four speeches by speakers.

The first speaker, Dmytro Slobodyanyuk, spoke on the topic: “Legal disputes in social networks regarding content and brands”, he took as a basis two real cases from his legal practice, divided the participants into teams and gave the task to provide a legal assessment of these situations, as well as to find a possible development of events from a legal point of view. It was also announced the opening of an internship in the speaker’s law firm and the opportunity to get an internship place for one of the networking participants.

Yuriy Tymoshin spoke on the topic: “Analysis of a Criminal Law Case.” He based his speech on his real-life cases from his career during various stages of the criminal process and the role of a lawyer: 1) during the pre-trial investigation; 2) preparatory proceedings; 3) trial; 4) appeal proceedings; and 5) during cassation proceedings.

The third speaker was Olena Ipatenko. She based her speech on familiarizing networking participants with the functionality and specifics of the free legal aid system, and also talked about a possible career path and vacancies that are open today.

After a lunch break, networking moved on to the fourth final speaker, Kateryna Borovska, who spoke on the topic “Modern Lawyer: Challenges, Development, and Career Prospects.” The speaker spoke about the main challenges facing a modern Ukrainian lawyer, as well as the role of a modern lawyer, spoke about famous Western lawyers, about career opportunities at the legal clinics of the NGO “April 10th”, and also held an interactive session.

Networking provided opportunities for participants to complete internships, as well as learn about other starting career opportunities, meet and exchange contacts with current practitioners in the legal field, and gain new knowledge in various areas of law.