Initiative to help law students from Ukraine

DLA Piper offers to help law students from Ukraine to a safe harbor with an internship in Stockholm.

The initiative comes from Patricia Shaughnessy an Associate Professor at Stockholm University. The goal is to provide Ukrainian law students an opportunity to replace their disrupted legal education with an internship in a law firm in a safe and supporting environment, combined with social and education activities. The “Safe Harbors 4 UA Students” initiative started in Stockholm and has already spread to various European cities.

─ The initiative has received great support and we already have students interning at several law firms in some European cities. We offer the students help on their journeys and hopefully more will start their travel towards a safe environment, as we are currently scaling this up as much as we can. At the moment we have more than 30 students in various destinations. It is very intense just now as we are working to assist more students and each student’s journey involves substantial, says Patricia Shaughnessy.

Several law firms in Stockholm are supporting the Safe Harbor initiative and DLA Piper welcomed the first two students who arrived in Sweden through the initiative. For the students, internships awaits at DLA Piper and a new context in a new country. An opportunity that gives them experience and the opportunity to deepen their studies, but above all a safe location with supportive colleagues.

─ DLA Piper supports the people of Ukraine in many different ways and the Safe Harbor project is fully aligned with our Ukraine support and cultural values. It is important for us to contribute where we can and to shape a better future for law students, by providing them with a safe harbor and eventually also knowledge and development, says Peter Näslund, Country Managing Partner at DLA Piper in Sweden.  

Arthur Csatho and Miljana Bigović take care of the students when they arrive at DLA Piper's office in Stockholm.

─ Practically its of course some paperwork to all make it all come true, but within a few days we managed to get the students assigned to us. They have now safely arrived in Stockholm and have already started to commence their internships, says Arthur Csatho at DLA Piper in Sweden.