Modern approaches to the organization of lawyers’ training in Ukraine
Authors:   National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Anna Yarosh 
Published: July 2021

The article is devoted to the analysis of modern approaches to the organization of the educational process, which would contribute to the formation of a category of lawyers with the necessary knowledge and are capable of preparing and implementing reforms in the political and legal system of their state. It is determined that modern legal education poses its own requirements to the applicant, namely to be a comprehensively developed, independent, self-sufficient person, guided in life by his own knowledge and beliefs, in this regard, the issue of professional training of a modern lawyer, which could withstand modern challenges, becomes especially relevant. It is noted that the training of the future lawyer should be aimed at forming a versatile specialist (lawyer), ready to fulfill a complex set of modern practical tasks for the legal protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a person and citizen. On this basis, the training of future lawyers should take into account modern approaches to the educational process. The most important of them are analyzed on the example of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine (hereinafter - NULES of Ukraine). First, the quality of specialists’ training substantially depends on quality of teaching subject matters which is defined by providing applicants with the corresponding training material (modern qualitative textbooks, manuals, study guides, didactic materials, etc.). And most importantly - the use of computer technology, electronic educational resources, with the help of which the interaction of the sphere of higher education with other spheres of life of society is ensured. Of course, modern ICTs increase the efficiency of the educational process, open the possibility of introducing completely new methods of teaching and learning. However, the implications of the growing importance of ICT in general, and the Internet in particular, should also be taken into account. The use of modern ICTs has become an integral part of the educational process of NULES of Ukraine during the Covid-19 pandemic. Secondly, taking into account modern trends in the field of education, the training of future lawyers should not ignore one of the most important indicators of the quality of higher legal education - the use of a foreign language in the educational process, in particular English. In particular, the NULES of Ukraine provides teaching in English of certain legal disciplines for applicants for higher education of the first (bachelor's) level. Thirdly, the training of a lawyer should be not only theoretical, but also practical. Practical training of a lawyer involves work during practical classes, internships in enterprises, institutions and organizations, self-training by independently performing certain tasks. However, it is worth highlighting another form of practical component of the training of future lawyers - these are legal clinics. To date, such a form of specialists’ practical training in the field of law has been effectively introduced into the educational process of higher educational institutions of Ukraine of the III-IV levels of accreditation. NULES of Ukraine is no exception. The Legal Clinic «Protection and Justice» operates on the basis of the Department of International Law and Comparative Law. It is proved that the quality of specialists’ training in the field of law depends on many factors (the use of modern ICT in the educational process, electronic educational resources, the possibilities of foreign languages in teaching legal disciplines, etc.). However, to a large extent, the quality of training depends on the practical component of the educational process, and therefore special attention should be paid to this component. Keywords: legal education, a lawyer, modern approaches, educational process, lawyers’ training, distance education, foreign language, legal clinic