All-Ukrainian roundtable “Bar of the Khmelnytskyy Region in the history of Ukraine”

On 7 October 2016 All-Ukrainian roundtable "Bar of the Khmelnytskyy Region in the history of Ukraine" took place in the city of Khmelnytskyy.

The event was organized by the UNBA Centre of Research on the Bar and Law, the Khmelnytskyy Regional Bar Council and Khmelnitsky University of Management and Law. The program of the event is available in the Ukrainian news.

Mr Leonid Misinkevych, First Vice-Rector of the University, stressed the topicality of the problems of the bar and its history both from the perspective of research at the university and in view of the UNBA national program of memorialisation of advocates.

Ms Iryna Vasylyk, Head of the UNBA Research Centre, described the research on general and regional history of the bar conducted by the Centre and outlined directions and trends of research on the history of the bar of Podillya.

One of the speakers, Mr Dmytro Vashchuk, researcher at the NASU Institute of History, described the earliest pages of the history of the bar and the judiciary of the Khmelnytskyy Region starting from XIII century.

 Mr Sergiy Yesyunin, leading researcher of the Khmelnytsky Regional Museum, analyzed the history of formation of the bar in the Khmelnytskyy Region at the edge of XIX-XX centuries. He spoke about the features of formation of advocates’ corporation. Based on archival material, the researcher managed to find that Mr Oleksandr Poray-Koshytsya was the first advocate officially registered in Proskuriv (now - Khmelnytskyy) in 1872 and the founder of the advocates’ dynasty. Mr Yesyunin also discovered other leading advocates of the region, who were famous patrons, representatives of town councils, etc. 

The researcher Anton Głovatskyy spoke about the activities of the leading advocate and politician Grygoriy Stepura and about the activities of advocates of the Khmelnytskyy Region during the interwar period. The author discovered in the archives the first register of advocates of Pldillya and speeches of local advocates in courts. 

Advocate and the BCU member Oksana Kadenko showed peculiarities of functioning of the bar in the Soviet period on the example of professional activities of advocate Galyna Bogdan. 

All presentations were interesting, relevant and informative, and contained academic novelty. 

As a result of the roundtable, all participants unanimously adopted the Decision. 

In addition, the event was marked with the opening of the Cabinet of History of the Bar of Podillya named after Grygoriy Stepura, a leading advocate, public and political figure, member of the Ukrainian Central Rada. 

The UNBA Research Centre for the Bar and the Law and the Khmelnytskyy Regional Bar Council developed and produced visual material for the Cabinet in the form of stands. 

Professional research and preparation of a monograph on the history of the bar of the Khmelnytsk Region are among the next steps to be taken.