Many thanks for your interest in the “Safe Harbor 4 UA Students” project. 

 

What are our goals?

 

The central idea is to provide the law students from Ukraine with a "Safe Harbor":  safe and friendly environments to enable them to grow,  pursue their legal education, and plan for the future despite the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine. 

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The Safe Harbor 4 UA Students focuses on providing support to law students from Ukraine that are former or current international “moot court” participants. This criterium is used as the basis to assess the students English language skills and their interest in working in an international context, which we believe is an important factor in making the internship worthwhile for both the students and the hosts.

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Through leveraging the network of firms involved in international arbitration and commercial law, we are able to offer students an “internship package” that includes a 3-month (or longer) internship, accommodation, travel logistics assistance, a living expense stipend, and social and educational activities and networking opportunities.

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Law firms, companies, and institutions from European countries can provide significant support to the safety and the development of Ukraine's future lawyers.   

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What we have achieved so far?

We have successfully assisted a number of Ukrainian students to several Safe Harbor destinations across Europe and these students have or will soon commence their internships.

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Our small team of volunteers is currently assisting students with planning their journeys. The safe passage out of Ukraine is time-consuming, and requires “real-time” information and assistance along the way.

 

In parallel, we are contacting students seeking our assistance to carefully match those who have adequate English skills with the hosting law firm, arbitral institution or business.

 

We are very grateful that so many law firms and businesses have offered to host a student for an internship package.

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How can I or my firm help provide a Safe Harbor?

 

We prioritize providing the students with a package solution in a location where accommodation, a living stipend, and educational and social opportunities are secured. We seek to place several students with different internships located in one city in order to provide a supportive community.

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➔    PROVIDE CONTINUED SUPPORT

 

While the students are hopeful that they may soon return to Ukraine and continue their legal studies, given the current situation, it is likely that the students will need continuing support and opportunities. We hope that many of the firms now offering internships will be willing to offer an internship package starting in summer months.

 

 ➔    MAKE A DONATION

 

In addition, we are seeking financial contributions to assist with meeting student needs.

 

Donations may be made to a special account that we have created in collaboration with the Humboldt Moot Association, a non-profit entity registered in Germany. We will provide the account information upon request.

 

➔    EXPLORE OPTIONS TO PROVIDE A REMOTE INTERNSHIP IN UKRAINE

 

We are also exploring legal solutions for offering the option to undertake a remote internship for students, who for various reasons, cannot leave Ukraine. If your law firm has the legal possibility to provide internship opportunities in Ukraine, we would be ready to facilitate communication with interested students.

 

➔    BE READY!

 

We will contact you when a student is ready to travel and confirm an internship spot at your firm. We will provide the student’s CV and other relevant information. As the situation in Ukraine and at the borders is dynamic, we could contact you with rather short notice of the arrival of the student, but we will do our best to provide information as early as possible.

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How do I get in touch?

Please note that we continue to receive many requests from students for assistance and also welcomed offers from firms, while at the same time providing immediate support to those in urgent need. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

 

What is the immediate priority and need?

Our plan is to initially focus on the “critical response effort” to get students in danger out of Ukraine as soon as possible. We will then help them to reach their hosts in the EU destinations.  

 

What will happen once students are in a safe place?

We have several requests from Ukrainian students already in safety who understandably would like to take advantage of the internship opportunity, living stipend, accommodations and a community. They are just as deserving as the students fleeing Ukraine now. We will try to help all of those already in safety in what we call “Stage Two”. Of course, any law firm can provide for the “Stage Two” students as they would like to.

 

What about those who remain in Ukraine, but whose studies are interrupted?

We are exploring how to establish part-time “remote working” internships and partial stipends to students who remain in Ukraine but would like to retain connections to their legal education and development as lawyers.

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We are looking forward to hearing from you!