DLA Piper held an award ceremony to crown the three winners of the DLA Piper All-Ukraine Competition for Law Students 2017. Margarita Karpenko, Managing Partner at DLA Piper Ukraine, opened the ceremony with a welcome speech which emphasized the necessity for law firms to hold and promote educational events such as this. "We are delighted to lead on this educational project, which aims to develop future lawyers' practical skills, and I firmly believe that allowing the winning students to get directly acquainted with Ukrainian and international legal sector will be of huge value to them in their future career. This year the winner will also be offered a one week long, all expenses paid internship to the DLA Piper office in Luxembourg". Ms.Karpenko also expressed thanks to the judging panel. "I am pleased that the project was supported by representatives of state authorities and practicing lawyers, and I really appreciate your interest and enthusiasm for this fantastic competition". The judging panel for 2017 included representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, in-house lawyers from Ukrainian and international companies and leading lawyers from DLA Piper Ukraine. The delegates from the universities of the winning students (Denis Azarov, Law Science faculty Dean at the National University of 'Kyiv-Mohyla Academy'; Petro Melnyk, Deputy Director at the Kyiv Institute of Intellectual Property and Law of the National University 'Odessa Law Academy'; and YuriyPonomarenko, Correspondence faculty Dean at the YaroslavMudryi National Law University) were invited to the ceremony as the honorable guests. They were awarded with a special diploma with gratitude from the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Minister of Justice of Ukraine and Managing Partner of DLA Piper Ukraine. Margarita Karpenko added "I hope that the Deans' participation in the awarding ceremony will become a long-standing tradition for many years to come, and I am grateful to OleksandrPyzhov and Oksana Volkova from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine for inviting them here today." ENDS For further information: Inna Voronova, PR and event Co-ordinator, DLA Piper Ukraine LLC. Tel.: +380672231850 or e-mail: [email protected] Notes to editors: 1. DLA Piper is a global law firm located in more than 40 countries throughout Africa, the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, positioning it to help companies with their legal needs anywhere in the world. 2. For further information about our organization and services, please visit our website: www.dlapiper.com Interfax-Ukraine News Agency is the general news partner.