From March 5 to March 7, 2026, consultants of the Specialized Legal Clinic on War-Related Issues at Sumy State University, Yaroslava Hetman (student of group P-31) and Nikita Kovalenko (student of group P-41), took part in the National Client Counseling Competition for Legal Clinics.
The National Competition is conducted in English and serves as a preliminary round for selecting the Ukrainian team that will participate in the Brown-Mosten International Client Consultation Competition.
The students had a unique opportunity to master a practical tool for simulating the client interview process and providing an initial legal consultation based solely on a brief case memorandum.
The experience of being evaluated by leading judges was particularly valuable, including Delaine Swenson, Professor of Law at the Catholic University of Lublin and Director and Founder of the Legal Skills Development Center, and Pawel Klimek, Doctor of Law, Head of the Tax Law Department at the Student Legal Clinic of Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, President of the Board of the Pro Bono Consulting Foundation, and resident mediator at the district courts in Kraków and Katowice.
Our students reached the semifinals and, according to the results of the evaluation, placed third among teams representing leading higher education institutions from across Ukraine.
We congratulate our students and wish them victory in the competition next year.
We also express our sincere gratitude to the Association of Legal Clinics of Ukraine for providing the opportunity to participate in a competition of such a high level.
