On the website "Yurydychna Hazeta Online", the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs, Candidate of Law, Associate Professor Iryna Yefremova shared her thoughts on the development of legal education in Ukraine.

During the period of independence in Ukraine, an extensive system of higher legal education was created, which became the basis for the formation of the system of the state apparatus and the private sector of the economy. Like any system, the legal education system has its achievements and failures, progress and shortcomings. At the same time, some members of the legal community raise the issue of legal education reform on the agenda. Moreover, from academic and scientific circles it is brought to the state level.

Given the seriousness of such steps, there is a need to understand what the proposed reformist steps will entail, whether they are needed at all, or whether the state, whose efforts in difficult times of economic transformation, is the true beneficiary of the proposed changes. What to expect from them?

It should be reminded that the discussion on reforming the legal education system of Ukraine materialized in the draft Concept of reforming legal education in Ukraine, which was considered by the relevant Committee on Education, Science and Innovation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. [1] [2]

Once again, the development and improvement of the legal training system in Ukraine is undoubtedly an urgent issue. However, as the practice of recent years shows, after the next large-scale reforms in a certain sphere of public relations, there are complete ruins, where it is difficult to build something useful then.

Having carefully read the proposed draft Concept for the Development of Legal Education in the latest edition of January 21, 2021 (hereinafter - the Concept), it can be noted that the adoption of this document can cause significant damage and great losses to the domestic educational system.

1. The concept uses a lot of obscure terminology: lawyer, law school, legal education, and so on. The use of such neologisms is in complete contradiction with the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine, which in Articles 127, 131 and 147 speaks of higher legal education of officials and legal higher educational institutions as subjects of formation of the High Council of Justice. [3]

At the same time, the concepts used by the authors are applied exclusively to the field of advocacy, because only it should provide legal assistance and in its structure there is a professional legal community - the bar self-government. [4]

Thus, the authors completely ignore the provisions of the Basic Law of our state and unreasonably narrow the subject of regulation of the Concept.

2. The provisions of the Concept provide for the thorough training of a master, which contradicts the fundamental principles of higher education as one of the basic in the organization of educational activities in Ukraine. If we talk about a purely legal approach, this form of training of lawyers contradicts Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine "On Higher Education", according to which obtaining a master's degree must be preceded by obtaining a bachelor's degree. [5] This is confirmed by a number of current normative legal acts with which the Concept contradicts (parts 5, 6 of Article 81 of the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police”, Part 1 of Article 19 of the Law of Ukraine “On Civil Service”, Part 1 of Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine "On Notary", item 1.4 of the Standard job description of the senior secretary of the general local court, approved by the order of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine dated 20.07.2005 №86, etc.).

In addition, for the state the term of training a specialist with legal education will increase to 6 years, which will lead to more expensive training of legal personnel.

3. Taking into account this cross-cutting model of lawyer training in the Concept contains another danger, as not all higher education institutions meet the licensing conditions that allow for master's training. As a result, many of these universities may lose the opportunity to conduct relevant educational activities, which will lead to the dismissal of scientific and pedagogical staff, and possibly the suspension of a significant number of such institutions.

This situation will negatively affect the state of the labor market, distort social tensions in the educational environment, as well as force many qualified teachers to seek a better life abroad.

4. Separately, I would like to dwell on the scientific field. According to the developers, most research in the field of law should be carried out on a grant basis in the so-called "law schools", i.e. in small legal institutions of higher education, which will remain on the ruins of the proposed reform.

In our opinion, this approach completely contradicts the autonomy of higher education institutions and establishes discriminatory mechanisms for subjects of scientific activity. With these provisions, the authors actually level the activities of the National Academy of Legal Sciences and research institutions of legal orientation and destroy their significant scientific achievements in the field of law.

In addition, the liquidation of the specialty 081 "Law" in many institutions of higher education will result in the complete destruction of the scientific support of the educational process and the practical activities of customers of educational services. Departments of educational and scientific training will be liquidated, i.e. postgraduate and postgraduate work will be stopped, specialized councils for the defense of dissertation research in all specialties will be liquidated. As a result of such a devastating blow, the development of domestic legal science will be on the verge of collapse.

5. In the Concept, its authors establish the division of legal education into "proper" and "under-education". Judges, prosecutors, notaries and lawyers should have the right education, as is clear from the speeches of its supporters. Instead, law enforcement officers (NABU, DBR, National Police, etc.), legal advisers, employees of the justice system, and military lawyers have enough legal "under-education."

A clear example of such a position was the opinion expressed at the meeting of the Committee on Education, Science and Innovation on January 21 this year, according to which investigators do not need legal education, which is legal nonsense!

We are confident that the lack of higher legal education in the specialty "081 Law" for employees of investigative units will put them in an unequal position with other participants in the criminal process. How will an investigator perform his or her professional duties when, unlike a lawyer, prosecutor and judge, he or she does not have a legal education? We are convinced that the content of education and training programs for prosecutors, lawyers, investigators, military lawyers, and other legal professionals should be the same, and be carried out within the specialty "Law" without discriminatory restrictions.

6. The authors of the Concept want to introduce foreign experience in the development of legal systems in Ukraine, without taking into account that legal education is an integral part of the legal system of any country. Whether it is the Romano-Germanic or the Anglo-American system. We are convinced that "blind copying" of foreign models of education and legal practice (mainly the United States and the United Kingdom), which differ significantly from domestic and without taking into account the peculiarities of national legislation can be a factor in violating the rights and freedoms of citizens in our country.

We consider the automatic transfer of models of other countries into national practice premature and inexpedient, as it is unclear why the developers of the analyzed document consider such a system of education to be better or exemplary. We do not have sufficient grounds to claim that this is true and adapted to national realities.

Conclusions:

The presented Draft Concept of Legal Education Reform of Ukraine, at least, does not meet the national interests of our state, which created a system of legal education, gradually, through trial and error, without choosing the infamous rule: "everything to the bottom, and then…». "

This means that in the future the implementation of the Concept will have a powerful destructive impact on the development of the domestic legal education system, will lead to unjustified liquidation of many higher education institutions, will destroy the system of scientific support for many public authorities.

The concept does not take into account the needs of the market of consumers of legal services, and does not correspond to foreign experience in implementing models of professional qualification in EU countries; does not provide recognition in the Ukrainian labor market of the "bachelor" level as a self-sufficient qualification level. [6]

The authors artificially confuse legal education and the legal profession, which leads to a misperception of higher legal education as a purely professional training of future lawyers, judges, prosecutors, notaries.

The concept envisages the elimination of the system of departmental legal education in Ukraine, as well as the training of specialists with legal education for certain law enforcement agencies, which poses direct threats to the national security of the state.

Therefore, the analyzed draft Concept for the Development of Legal Education, which was submitted for discussion to the relevant Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is in need of significant refinement. The authors should take into account the proposals of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the European Union, research institutions, higher education institutions and other stakeholders.

[1] Draft concept of legal education development. URL: http://kno.rada.gov.ua/news/main_news/75465.html

[2] Information on the sitting of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Education, Science and Innovation on January 21, 2021 / URL: http://kno.rada.gov.ua/news/main_news/75598.html

[3] Constitution of Ukraine: Law of Ukraine of June 28, 1996 № 254k / 96-VR. URL: https://tinyurl.com/yd82d3dc

[4] On the Bar and Advocacy: Law of Ukraine of 05.07.2012 № 5076-VI. URL: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/5076-17#n360

[5] On higher education: Law of Ukraine of 01.07.2014 № 1556-VII. URL: https://tinyurl.com/yxmkleg7

[6] The concept of legal education reform is considered harmful: Resolution of the All-Ukrainian Conference of National Higher Education Institutions. URL: https://tinyurl.com/y523z7t4

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