“Brand new practices in demand” – talented youth project

In recent years, we have encountered several major issues in finding candidates. First, low basic-training level of law students and inability to apply theoretical knowledge in practice. Second, misunderstanding of the legal profession by future lawyers. The legal market in Ukraine is actively developing, there is a clear distinction between law practices and industries. Today, a lawyer must be an expert in 2-3 areas and have both theoretical and practical knowledge in them. We have noticed that graduate students do not have an understanding and vision of which area of law they want to move up in, whether they want to work in consulting or in-house. 

Third (but also important), universities do not (or patchily) teach the areas of law that are already in demand and will be promising in the future. The legal field is developing quite dynamically. There are increasingly more areas that are not covered at universities, and knowledge in these specialties can be only hands-on or obtained through self-education (e.g. Data protection or Compliance). 

SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM SITUATION

It was decided to introduce the students to the areas of work that lawyers deal with in practice and that are highly promising in the future. 

The purpose of the project:

  • promoting the legal profession and the industry among students at specialized universities; 

  • offering students insight into work areas beyond the classical curriculum, which are and will be in great demand on the market in future (brand new practices in demand);

  • knowledge sharing from the company’s leading experts; 

  • developing Arzinger’s employer brand and contributing to the development of the younger generation within the company’s CSR policy (according to Target No. 4 “Quality Education”);

  • making a pool of trainee candidates.

 

We involved 11 speakers (3 partners, 3 counsels and leading associates of Arzinger). 12 most trending topics (10 major ones and 2 as a bonus). 31 lecture delivered online, 3 months of preparations, 3 months of classes and active communication with students in a Telegram channel. The training took place online from March through early June 2021. In each area, our speakers conducted 2-3 lectures (lasting 60 minutes), during which the participants were able to immerse themselves in selected topics and analyze specific cases with comments from practitioners.

The project implementation was initially planned within 1 university – the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. The introduction meeting with students took place at the end of February 2020, then still offline, as the project included on-campus seminars. However, due to the COVID situation in Ukraine, the project was frozen indefinitely. In the fall of 2020, when it became clear that the usual classroom format was hardly possible in the foreseeable future, we decided to bring the project online and upscale it to the all-Ukrainian level.

We analyzed the subjects taught at universities and selected the top 10 matters requiring more detailed consideration and study beyond those presented in the relevant materials of educational institutions. We involved experienced internal speakers (partners, counsels, leading associates) for teaching activities within the project, and also agreed on cooperation with leading student organizations (UBA Students’ League https://www.facebook.com/leagueuba, ELSA Ukraine https://www.facebook.com/elsaukraine ) and universities training future lawyers.

While preparing the project, we have developed the schedule of lectures by topics, presentations and case studies, as well as PR-strategy for the project and its further implementation (project identity, advertising materials, regular posts on social media from the company and partner organizations). We created Telegram channel for the project where communication with participants took place. After each block of lectures we collected feedback from participants, analyzed it and adjusted future lectures. Upon completion of the project we conducted survey regarding its organization level, usefulness and participants’ satisfaction. Each participant received electronic certificate on course completion. We continued further communication with participants and offered them to take part in competition for open starting vacancies.

RESULTS OF THE DECISION

This is the first fully online-implemented conceptual project aimed at developing and attracting young talents in the legal field. It is also the first project in the industry carried out in cooperation with 2 leading student organizations – ELSA Ukraine and the UBA Students’ League. These organizations had no similar previous experience of cooperation with each other. Arzinger actually brought them together to implement the project and expand the audience covered.

Surveys were conducted at the end of each course and the entire project. More than 60 positive reviews were received from students at leading Ukrainian universities. The overall level of satisfaction with the project is 9.6 on a 10-point scale.

We received 300 applications and contacts of potential candidates for traineeship/starting vacancies. 3 candidates have already been accepted as trainees, and several more are being considered (the size of the company is 120 employees). The number of young people aged 20-24 y.o. hired since the beginning of 2021 is 17 young professionals.

Arzinger law firm features among the best employers in the legal field according to the ranking “Best Employers of Ukraine 2020-2021” by the HR portal grc.ua – job search site (https://bit.ly/3BKgG5U).

According to the ranking by Yurydychna Gazeta, Arzinger is among top 5 HR brands in law firms of Ukraine (https://bit.ly/3BDA6Jr)

 

BRAND NEW PRACTICES IN DEMAND is a step towards the future that can be taken today!

 

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