Kyiv - DLA Piper, the largest global legal services organisation, announced that 17 October it held the Award Ceremony of the All-Ukraine Scholarship Competition for Law Students 2008. The Ceremony took place in the Khlibnya Museum of the National Reserve "Sophia Kyivska". At the Ceremony the finalists of the Competition were greeted by Mr Volodymyr Bogatyr, Deputy Justice Minister of Ukraine, Mr Kazymyr Levkivsky, Deputy Director of the Institute of Innovation Technologies and Content of Education at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and Mr Vyacheslav Bigun, Head of Coordination Council of Young Lawyers at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

The finalists of the Competition are: Yulia Muravska, student of the Illya Mechnikov Odessa National University (1 prize), Oleg Fedusiv, student of the Academy of Advocacy of Ukraine (2 prize), Vitaliy Khilko, student of the Illya Mechnikov Odessa National University (3 prize), and Kateryna Berko, student of the Yaroslav Mudry National Law Academy of Ukraine (4 prize). The finalists will receive scholarships in the offices of DLA Piper, including abroad, as well as monetary scholarships during the university year.

Commenting the results of the Competition, Margarita Karpenko, Managing Partner of the Kyiv office, said that practical background of students taking part in the Competition 2008 is much better now than last year but still needs to be further improved. "Within the frames of our CSR practice we plan to continue the tradition of the Competition next year in order to motivate students to continue their education and to give them possibilities for further professional development", said Margarita. The Competition of 2009 will start in February next year.

For further information:
Nataliya Tkachenko, Marketing Manager, DLA Piper Ukraine LLC, Tel: +380 44 490 9579 or Email: nataliya.tkachenko@dlapiper.com

1. Competition is one of the CSR initiatives of DLA Piper within the frames of its global CSR Education, Emplyability and Enterprise platform. Besides, DLA Piper develops Pro Bono; Sustainability; and People and Communities platforms.
2. The All-Ukraine Scholarship Competition for Law Students is running second year in a row now, and is supported by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, as well as Coordination Council of Young Lawyers at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. The Competition is also supported by the European Business Association in Ukraine, and Ukrainian mass media including The Yuridicheskaya Practika Weekly, Investgazeta Magazine, Delo Daily, Interfax information agency, The Ukrainian Journal of Business Law, Ukrainsky Advokat Magazine, Ukrainian Lawyer Magazine, and Sudivy Vypusk Magazine. Vagner Insurance Broker supports the Competition by providing insurances to the finalists travelling abroad.
3. Among the judges of the Judging Panel 2008 - Nigel Knowles, Managing Partner of DLA Piper UK LLP and Joint Chief Executive Officer of DLA Piper; Margarita Karpenko, Managing Partner of DLA Piper Ukraine LLC; and Inna Bogoslovska, Attorney at Law, MP of Ukraine; Kateryna Chala, Vice President on Legal Issues of Sitronics, Vadym Fesenko, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Performance of Obligations Service LLC; Iryna Ivanchuk, Vice Head of the Department of Coordination of Legal Work and Legal Education, Head of the Legal Education Sector of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine; Dmytro Kukhnyuk, Attorney at Law, General Counsel, Farlep-Invest OJSC; Tetyana Kyryk, Legal Director, BBH Group in Ukraine; Iryna Musiychuk, Head of Legal Department, OBI Ukraine Franchise Center LLC; Ruslan Stephanchuk, the Member of Coordination Council of Young Lawyers at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

4. DLA Piper Ukraine LLC is part of DLA Piper, the largest global legal services organisation. Kyiv team comprises more than 40 lawyers and is headed by Managing Partner Margarita Karpenko.

5. DLA Piper is the largest global legal services organisation with offices across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the US. Over 3,700 lawyers across 64 offices and 26 countries provide a broad range of legal services to businesses that operate on a local, regional and global level. DLA Piper is relationship driven and committed to meeting the ongoing legal needs of its clients. For further information about our organisation and services, please visit our website: www.dlapiper.com.