Students of Legal Clinics from Across Ukraine Competed in the 2026 National Client Consultation Competition

Sixteen students from eight legal clinics across Ukraine gained intensive practical experience working with clients during the 2026 National Client Consultation Competition of Legal Clinics of Ukraine, held on March 5–7. The competition is traditionally organized by the Association of Legal Clinics of Ukraine in cooperation with the National University of Ostroh Academy and the Malynovskyi Institute of Law.

The competition was coordinated by Mariia Tsypriashchuk — human rights defender, trainer, lawyer, and legal advisor to the Culture and Identity Project of the Partnership for a Strong Ukraine (PFRU). Financial support for organizing the event and enabling the winning team to participate in the international round was provided by Kernel.

Learning through practice

The National Client Consultation Competition offers a unique educational format for students involved in legal clinics. Participants simulate a real consultation in a legal office: they interview a client, clarify the circumstances of the case, identify both legal and non-legal aspects of the situation, and propose possible solutions.

The competition reflects the complex nature of legal practice. Students are expected not only to apply their legal knowledge but also to demonstrate communication skills, empathy, teamwork, and professional ethics. All rounds of the competition are conducted in English, allowing participants to develop professional legal communication skills in an international context and prepare for the Brown-Mosten International Client Consultation Competition.

The first client consultation competition in Ukraine was held in 2005 at Ostroh Academy. Since then, the university has remained one of the key partners of the clinical legal education movement, and this year the competition was hosted there for the twelfth time.

Participants were welcomed by Eduard Balashov, Rector of the National University of Ostroh Academy, Doctor of Psychological Sciences and Professor. In his address, he emphasized the importance of such competitions for developing the practical skills of future lawyers and their ability to work with clients facing complex life situations.

Liudmyla Rudenko, Executive Director of the Association of Legal Clinics of Ukraine, noted that the competition plays a particularly important role in strengthening the practical training of law students, especially in the context of the ongoing full-scale war.

Participating legal clinics

Ten teams initially registered for the competition, representing legal clinics from different cities of Ukraine. Ultimately, eight teams took part, representing:

— Legal Clinic named after Mykola Udod, Vasyl Stus Donetsk National University
— Practical Law Laboratory “Legal Clinic”, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv
— Sumy State University Legal Clinic
— Ukrainian Catholic University School of Law Legal Clinic
— Legal Protection Center, State University of Trade and Economics
— Legal Clinic “Pro bono”, National University of Ostroh Academy
— Legal Clinic Laboratory, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
— Legal Clinic “ASTREIA”, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University

To ensure impartial evaluation, teams performed anonymously during the rounds, each being assigned a letter by lot before the competition began.

Rounds and cases

The competition consisted of four stages: two quarterfinal rounds (in which all teams participated), followed by the semifinal and the final.

Throughout the rounds, teams worked with complex client situations related to land law and related legal fields. The cases addressed issues such as agricultural land leasing and use, the organization of tourism and recreational businesses, the protection of landowners’ rights in connection with the occupation of land, and the use of land for military purposes.

These cases required participants not only to conduct accurate legal analysis but also to respond to ethical dilemmas, demonstrate empathy, and propose creative solutions for clients.

The teams advancing to the semifinal round represented Vasyl Stus Donetsk National University, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Sumy State University, Ukrainian Catholic University School of Law

Judging panel

The performances were evaluated by a judging panel consisting of representatives of the Ukrainian and international clinical legal education community, as well as professionals from the fields of advocacy, human rights, mediation, and academia.

The judges of the 2026 National Competition included:

Alina Serhieieva — certified mediator of the International Mediation Institute, researcher (Vilnius), mediation trainer, lawyer, judge of international mediation and negotiation competitions, currently working as a Peace and Development Officer at the UN;
Delaine Swenson — Professor of Law at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (Poland), Director and Founder of the Center for Legal Skills Enhancement;
Pawel Klimek — PhD, lawyer, mediator, National Representative of Poland in the Brown-Mosten International Client Consultation Competition;
Oleh Martynenko — expert of the Center for Civil Liberties, Doctor of Political Sciences, criminologist and human rights defender, veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war;
Olha Kotiuk — Director of the Culture and Identity Project at the Partnership for a Strong Ukraine (PFRU), expert in armed conflict analysis, lecturer on Transitional Justice at the Kyiv School of Economics;
Oksana Vozniuk — judge of the Bila Tserkva City District Court of Kyiv region;
Olha Shmyndruk — lawyer, mediator, PhD in Law, Associate Professor at the National University of Ostroh Academy;
Yuliia Khmaruk — lawyer;
Alla Filatova — lawyer, Managing Partner of the “Zakhid-Partner” law firm, member of the Council and regional representative of the NAU-UNBA NextGen Youth Committee in Rivne region;
Mykola Bliashyn — lawyer, Ostroh Academy alumnus, Master of Laws (University of Birmingham), PhD in Comparative Corporate Law, visiting lecturer in EU law at Ostroh Academy;
Anna Homeniuk — Program Manager for Social Cohesion at Caritas Ukraine, dialogue facilitator.

The judges evaluated the teams according to the official criteria and provided detailed professional feedback after each round.

Results

In the final round, the teams from the Ukrainian Catholic University School of Law and Vasyl Stus Donetsk National University competed.

The winner of the 2026 National Client Consultation Competition was the team of the Ukrainian Catholic University School of Law Legal Clinic — Mariana Trach and Yuliia Lysak, coached by Khrystyna Kovtsun.

Second place was awarded to the team of the Vasyl Stus Donetsk National University Legal Clinic — Yelyzaveta Hrabova and Vladyslav Litvinov, coached by Liliia Amelicheva, Tetiana Mikhailina, and Oleksandr Bakhur.

The winning team will represent Ukraine at the international round of the Brown-Mosten International Client Consultation Competition, which will take place April 15–18, 2026 in Zagreb.

Client actors and acknowledgements

An important part of the competition is the participation of client actors, who help create realistic consultation scenarios.

This year, the roles of clients were performed by Roman Shulyk, Peter Gee, Gemma Vaivala, and Serhii Klimov. The Association of Legal Clinics of Ukraine sincerely thanks them for their professional contribution. Roman Shulyk has been supporting the competition for many years with his remarkable portrayal of a client. Peter Gee, a British lecturer working at Polish universities, has previously participated as a judge as well. Gemma Vaivala and Serhii Klimov traveled from Kyiv to support the high quality of the rounds.

The Association of Legal Clinics of Ukraine also expresses its gratitude to the team of the National University of Ostroh Academy, the Malynovskyi Institute of Law, the judges, coaches, and volunteers who contributed to organizing this year’s competition.

Special thanks go to Kernel and Artem Filipyev for their long-standing organizational and financial support of the competition.

We wish the winning team every success in representing Ukraine at the international round.

Photo: Solomiia Kostenkova