Ukraine Trip

We are loving Ukraine.  Chauncey and I are here for two weeks as volunteers with the Leavitt Institute, an organization that helps promote democratic principles in Ukraine through legal education. New volunteers come every two weeks.  We are teaching at several of the top law schools in Kiev and Kharkiv.  Other volunteers cover the rest of the top 20 law schools in Odessa and Lviv.  

The students want their system to change.  The Ukrainian constitution provides its citizens with the human rights that most other counties enjoy.  However, those rights are not protected.  For example, the Ukrainian constitution gives its citizens the right to a trial by jury.  There has never been a trial by jury in the history of the country. 

A couple of days ago, we taught a lecture on the need for civic virtue, both for attorneys (we talked some about ethical duties for lawyers), and also for regular citizens.  We asked them toward the end of the discussion whether they believe that one person can make a difference.  Many said no.  We told them the story about the little boy who picked up the starfish on the beach, and how his optimism and example inspired others on the beach to help, and how because of what he started, that thousands of starfish on the beach were saved.  Many of the students seemed to really connect with that story. But a few students came up to us after class and told us that the problems their country is facing are so much more difficult than just throwing starfish into the sea.  They said that they have police yelling at them from the beach to stop, and that some of the starfish themselves were yelling that they wanted to be left on the beach to die.  We talked to him about how we knew it was much harder, but that the same principle applies.  We said that although one person may not be able to change the whole country that he can change the way things are done among his co-workers.  We talked about how doing the right thing for his clients will make a difference to them.

The students are bright.  They are good people.  They want to improve their legal system.  But the change will take a lot of time, and a lot of young professionals doing the right thing even when they feel like they are standing alone.