Kyiv - DLA Piper, an international law firm, has started the second stage of the All-Ukraine Scholarship Competition for Law Students.  DLA Piper lawyers assessed written papers (prepared and submitted by law students for the given topics at the initial stage of the competition) and identified semifinalists.  These semifinal papers will now be assessed by the independent Judging Panel of the Competition.  Based on the marks given to these papers by the Judging Panel, and on the results of the oral interview rounds, the four winners of the competition will be awarded by mid of October 2011.

This year the largest number of papers was sent by the students of the Yaroslav Mudry National Law Academy of Ukraine and the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.  The largest number of received papers covers recognition and enforcement of foreign judicial and arbitration rulings in Ukraine.  The next popular topics this year are "Bona fide purchaser of real estate- analysis of practical application of Ukrainian legislation" and "Legal regulations of exploitation of alternative energy sources in Ukraine and other countries".
"We are glad the students actively participate in the competition and acknowledge it as an important step towards their successful future legal career.  We appreciate their interest, and to further promote the competition, we have launched a page in VKontakte social network.  However, we had to disqualify several papers which were plagiated from internet sources and those which were prepared on the topics not listed in the competition brochure.  We encourage students to strictly follow the rules of the competition, and this is the key element to succeed in winning valuable prizes, like scholarship in the offices of DLA Piper, including London, Moscow and Kyiv, as well as monetary scholarships", comments Margarita Karpenko, Managing Partner of the Kyiv office of DLA Piper, one of the inspirers of the project.

As a reminder, the 2011 Judging Panel of the Competition, who will now be assessing the papers of the simifinalists, traditionally includes DLA Piper high profile experts and also includes distinguished leaders from variety of industry sectors:

  • Chala Kateryna, Vice President Legal, Sitronics Information Technologies
  • Fesenko Vadym, Deputy Head of Main Department for Judicial Reform and Judicial Administration, Administration of the President of Ukraine
  • Ivanchuk Iryna, Vice Head of the Department of Coordination of Legal Work and Legal Education, Head of the Legal Education Sector of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine
  • Kravchenko Olga, Head of Legal Department, Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sport of Ukraine
  • Lazurenko Anna, Head of Legal, Louis Dreyfus Commodities Ltd. LLC
  • Kyryk Tetyana, Legal Director, MRIYA AGROHOLDING
  • Samus Oleg, Director Legal and Public Affairs, Bunge Ukraine LLC
  • Vakhel Yuriy, Deputy Director General (Legal and Business Development), Noble Resources Ukraine LLC

The 2011 Competition is held under the traditional patronage of the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice and the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sport.  The European Business Association in Ukraine, Interfax information agency as well as leading business and legal media such as Investgazeta Weekly, Delo Daily, Yuridicheskaya Praktika Weekly, Ukrainian Journal of Business Law, Ukrainian Lawyer magazine and Sudovy Vypusk magazine also support the Competition of 2011.

ENDS

For further information:
Nataliya Tkachenko, Marketing Manager, DLA Piper Ukraine LLC, Tel: +380 44 490 9579 or Email: nataliya.tkachenko@dlapiper.com

Notes to editors:

  • DLA Piper Ukraine LLC is part of DLA Piper, a global law firm with over 3,500 lawyers across 76 offices and 30 countries.  From its offices across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and the United States, legal and business advisers provide a range of services to local, regional and international businesses.
  • The All-Ukraine Scholarship Competition for Law Students is now running for a fifth year in a row, and is one of DLA Piper's CSR initiatives within the framework of its global CSR Education, Employability & Enterprise platform.  Besides this one, DLA Piper globally directs its CSR efforts to Pro Bono, People & Communities and Sustainability platforms. Further information about the Competition can be found at http://vkontakte.ru/club26160384#/club26160384
  • For further information about our organisation and services, please visit our website: www.dlapiper.com.