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On 24 February 2022, the life of Ukrainians changed radically. Every Ukrainian, whether at home or abroad, felt the impact of the war on a physical and emotional level. In the first days of the war, it was very clear that the military power of the invaders was ten times greater than ours. If you compare the maps of Ukraine and Russia – everything is clear without words, especially since Russia has been preparing for this insidious war for decades, disarming and exhausting the Ukrainian Army.
Personally, I rather believed in a miracle and hoped that the story of David and Goliath would repeat nowadays in the war with the Russian Federation. However, I do also reaise that any miracle never happens ‘just like that’; you need to act. I believe that in an open war, which we have faced today, all Ukrainians should act in their place as best they can.
We all have seen the dedication and heroism of our soldiers, who now inspire the entire world. That is why, at the beginning of the invasion, together with my friends and colleagues, we have been engaged in the creation of the #SaveUkraineNow Coordination Center, where I was responsible for providing assistance to the servicemen, managing logistics. We quickly had to master a new profession together with a team of ‘newly trained logisticians’. Besides that, there was admission and training in the Voluntary Formation of Territorial Defense. At the same time, we still had to manage our professional activities for providing our clients with quality legal support, as well as paying salaries to employees.
At first, it seemed that it would be simply impossible to combine all of these duties at once, but today we understand that it could not be otherwise.
Therefore, if we talk about a day in the life of a Ukrainian lawyer at war, and my personal experience, I would describe it as follows.
Voluntary work: I coordinate logistics in #SaveUkraineNow. The range of responsibilities includes the delivery of goods for the military with proper processing of all shipping documents. Almost 90% of all deliveries are from abroad. We often have difficulties in finding vehicles and crossing the customs border for urgent needs, because of long queues and the shortage of trucks. However, we have already managed to establish a very well-coordinated cooperation with a Polish company, which has organised the so-called transshipment and help with the preparation of documents.
Professional activity: I manage the Dispute Resolution practice at MORIS Law Firm. I spend a significant part of my working day on this. Now, we are focused on the most relevant and necessary legal services for business – collecting evidence of war damages and filing lawsuits for their compensation.
Public activity: Being the Head of the Committee on Procedural Law of the Ukrainian Bar Association, I coordinate its work. Together with the Committee’s Council, we respond to the acute challenges that periodically arise with regard to legal proceedings in Ukraine. Among anothers, we prepare proposals to Parliament regarding legislative initiatives, provide our expert opinions, organise events of the professional community etc.
Family life: Together with my wife, we are raising three children. The war has geographically separated a lot of families, and ours is not an exception. Nevertheless, we have created our own family rituals, which help me to connect with my family for at least few minutes: every evening we arrange a video call to share the news for the day, and then I tell the children a story that I make up ‘on the go’. Now that my family is in the Western Ukraine, every weekend I travel from Kyiv to visit them. This has been our new reality for more than seven months now.
Safety: Air raid alarms have become a part of our life. I decided to react appropriately to all alarms whenever they sounded. That is why there are nights in Kyiv when I wake up several times because of the sound of an alarm and go to a shelter.
No matter how difficult it is, I constantly remind myself that our joint great victory is ahead. When you see how every day our soldiers, volunteers, political leaders and international partners do incredible things – you have no right to give up!
Andriy Savchuk, attorney-at-law, is Chairman of the Committee on Procedural Law of the Ukrainian Bar Association and Partner of MORIS Law Firm.
On 24 February 2022, the life of Ukrainians changed radically. Every Ukrainian, whether at home or abroad, felt the impact of the war on a physical and emotional level. In the first days of the war, it was very clear that the military power of the invaders was ten times greater than ours. If you compare the maps of Ukraine and Russia – everything is clear without words, especially since Russia has been preparing for this insidious war for decades, disarming and exhausting the Ukrainian Army.
Personally, I rather believed in a miracle and hoped that the story of David and Goliath would repeat nowadays in the war with the Russian Federation. However, I do also reaise that any miracle never happens ‘just like that’; you need to act. I believe that in an open war, which we have faced today, all Ukrainians should act in their place as best they can.
We all have seen the dedication and heroism of our soldiers, who now inspire the entire world. That is why, at the beginning of the invasion, together with my friends and colleagues, we have been engaged in the creation of the #SaveUkraineNow Coordination Center, where I was responsible for providing assistance to the servicemen, managing logistics. We quickly had to master a new profession together with a team of ‘newly trained logisticians’. Besides that, there was admission and training in the Voluntary Formation of Territorial Defense. At the same time, we still had to manage our professional activities for providing our clients with quality legal support, as well as paying salaries to employees.
At first, it seemed that it would be simply impossible to combine all of these duties at once, but today we understand that it could not be otherwise.
Therefore, if we talk about a day in the life of a Ukrainian lawyer at war, and my personal experience, I would describe it as follows.
Voluntary work: I coordinate logistics in #SaveUkraineNow. The range of responsibilities includes the delivery of goods for the military with proper processing of all shipping documents. Almost 90% of all deliveries are from abroad. We often have difficulties in finding vehicles and crossing the customs border for urgent needs, because of long queues and the shortage of trucks. However, we have already managed to establish a very well-coordinated cooperation with a Polish company, which has organised the so-called transshipment and help with the preparation of documents.
Professional activity: I manage the Dispute Resolution practice at MORIS Law Firm. I spend a significant part of my working day on this. Now, we are focused on the most relevant and necessary legal services for business – collecting evidence of war damages and filing lawsuits for their compensation.
Public activity: Being the Head of the Committee on Procedural Law of the Ukrainian Bar Association, I coordinate its work. Together with the Committee’s Council, we respond to the acute challenges that periodically arise with regard to legal proceedings in Ukraine. Among anothers, we prepare proposals to Parliament regarding legislative initiatives, provide our expert opinions, organise events of the professional community etc.
Family life: Together with my wife, we are raising three children. The war has geographically separated a lot of families, and ours is not an exception. Nevertheless, we have created our own family rituals, which help me to connect with my family for at least few minutes: every evening we arrange a video call to share the news for the day, and then I tell the children a story that I make up ‘on the go’. Now that my family is in the Western Ukraine, every weekend I travel from Kyiv to visit them. This has been our new reality for more than seven months now.
Safety: Air raid alarms have become a part of our life. I decided to react appropriately to all alarms whenever they sounded. That is why there are nights in Kyiv when I wake up several times because of the sound of an alarm and go to a shelter.
No matter how difficult it is, I constantly remind myself that our joint great victory is ahead. When you see how every day our soldiers, volunteers, political leaders and international partners do incredible things – you have no right to give up!
Far-ranging month for the Chair of the Bar
Endometriosis Awareness North, a charity raising awareness of endometriosis and supporting those affected across the North of England, has received a £500 boost from AlphaBiolabs via the company’s Giving Back initiative
Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs, examines the most recent data on alcohol misuse in the UK, and the implications for alcohol testing in family proceedings
Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group, explains how tailored financial planning can help barristers take control of their finances and plan with confidence
Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs
A £500 donation from AlphaBiolabs has been made to the leading UK charity tackling international parental child abduction and the movement of children across international borders
Seeing the full picture – Baljit Ubhey OBE outlines the CPS action plan to tackle violence against women and girls, offering insights directly relevant to courtroom practice
Heritage as an anchor and a compass, finding our common humanity and embracing the power of the outsider – Melina Antoniadis’s lessons learnt
Is the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office process fit for purpose? Women barristers’ experiences of bullying are not being reported or, if they are, they are not making it through the system, says Tana Adkin KC
Review by Daniel Barnett
Chair of the Bar reports back
