Legal Expertise to Make Ukraine’s Volunteering More Effective
When Russia’s invasion began, the independent legal media community Union of Dead Lawyers immediately started volunteering. Initially, the group handled typical volunteer tasks such as finding thermal imagers and vehicles for the military, raising funds, delivering food, and supporting hospitals. However, it soon became clear they could be highly effective as lawyers. Many new volunteers faced numerous legal issues regarding fundraising, procurement, and the transfer of humanitarian aid. Recognizing this need, the lawyers began assisting them. Their efforts eventually evolved into the Charity Foundation Lawyers’ Move, which continues to provide legal support and essential aid to the military and medics. The director of Lawyers’ Move, Nadiia Denysiuk, speaks about working at the intersection of legal and volunteer fields.
How did you start to provide volunteers with legal consulting?
We didn’t plan anything, as truly valuable things in life often begin unpredictably.
In the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, everyone was actively doing something without much thought about the consequences. Eventually, we started getting questions like: “You’re lawyers, you must know how to do this properly”. We didn’t know, as we had never encountered such situations before. But for a lawyer it’s normal to research a new field.
The number of legal inquiries from volunteers kept increasing. We all had our main jobs, volunteer work, and other projects. So, we realized we couldn’t handle all the requests. Understanding both the volunteer and legal work, I found it challenging when the two overlapped. For example, I was asked how to bring body armor from Panama while figuring out for myself how to import it from Türkiye.
That is why, by the end of 2022, the idea of creating a legal clinic emerged. The clinic would provide legal assistance to those who couldn’t afford to pay for it. We decided to involve law students and practicing lawyer mentors. Together, they would offer free legal consultations on socially important and pressing issues. Volunteering was definitely such an issue.
We secured funding and initially hired seven consultants for the clinic. We have since reduced the number to three, because at the start no one knew much, but now we have expertise and practical experience, making the work easier.
So, the problem was that suddenly everyone became volunteers, meaning people with various backgrounds and experiences were involved. And not everyone understood how to do it legally?
Exactly. As we say, our motto and mission are to make sure not everyone ends up in jail. I’ve already participated in criminal proceedings as a witness and lawyer regarding volunteer activities. The state authorities leave nothing unnoticed or unforgiven.
We decided to work on prevention rather than consequences. Instead of dealing with problems after they happened, such as improper documentation or undeclared activities, we started focusing on legal awareness. This way, volunteers would have a clear protocol for all situations in their volunteer work.
What were the main issues volunteers approached you with?
The questions varied. Some wanted to make contracts for procurement, others to organize donation collections involving military personnel or friends who weren’t registered as volunteers. Often, these donations were deposited into personal accounts. Later, people would ask: “I collected money, spent it, and gave the military the purchased items, but I have no documents—what should I do?”
Gradually, volunteers began seeking advice before starting fundraising or other activities. With the intensity of events reduced, there’s now time to consider and plan properly.
To sum up, main issues include organizing donation drives, confirming the transfer of aid to military and civilians, and still the pressing issue of car-import regulations. Later, we also moved on to the next level of consultation—registering NGOs and charitable foundations. Additionally, we assisted with grant documentation, rental agreements, and developing payment policies.
And I can say that working on these issues provided our law students with substantial practical experience.
Does Lawyers’ Move collaborate with other organizations dealing with legal issues?
Usually not. While we receive offers of help, we don’t have the time to transfer expertise since the field requires specific knowledge. However, we occasionally involve specialists in certain legal areas for advice.
But we have a memorandum of cooperation with the Association of Legal Clinics of Ukraine. If we receive requests outside our specialization, we refer them there, and the association does the same with volunteer-related queries.
We also collaborate with the Human Rights Center ZMINA, supporting volunteers in criminal prosecutions. Such cases we refer to them.
But the legal clinic is just one project of Lawyers’ Move. How do you manage all of them?
In 2022, my fund partner Katya Mishchenko and I discussed our activities. I asked her: “What will you be responsible for?” She replied: “Everything”. “Then I’ll handle everything else”, I said. We even made T-shirts with these phrases.
But eventually we formed a team of four leaders, with each person responsible for specific areas. I oversee military aid and the legal clinic. Maria Zivert manages the medical direction, including the Medical Outpost project and tactical medicine. One who prefers not to be named handles military and evacuation vehicles. Together with Maria, he also manages the volunteer hub in Kyiv. Katya, whom I mentioned, oversees communications, organizational processes, and partnerships.
Why did you decide to take on multiple projects at once instead of just focusing on one?
This classic volunteering of “find something, deliver it” arose from societal demand. If I weren’t a lawyer, I’d only engage in military volunteering. I believe that for long-term support of the army, volunteers are essential. More soldiers will return home alive thanks to them.
But the legal clinic responds to community needs as well. Volunteers also need support; we remove legal barriers so they can focus on their work.
How do you see Lawyers’ Move’s future development?
We don’t plan to open new areas of work because we assess our capabilities realistically, or as realistically as possible. We’re already working at the limit of our capacity. Therefore, we decided to develop each existing direction further. We constantly have to adapt to requests, as the situation on the front line changes and, accordingly, so do the needs of the military.
Although I anyway dream of starting legal assistance for servicemen, it’s currently too massive an undertaking due to our workload.
What keeps your team motivated despite the heavy workload?
We might go serve in the military, which would make our resource investment most effective. Until then, we strive to do something important as well. The sense of responsibility is constant.
What do you consider Lawyers’ Move’s main achievements?
We’ve managed to create and streamline a system of assistance, and each direction works effectively. For example, Maria’s work in medical aid has significantly enhanced front-line hospitals with scarce and expensive equipment. This enables certain types of surgeries to be performed just 3.5 kilometers from the front line.
Many foundations deal with vehicles, but few provide equipped transport for evacuation. We were among the first to do this.
Regarding the legal clinic, we’ve put out fires by addressing urgent issues and showing volunteers that their activities have consequences. They now better understand legal issues and can focus more on their primary work.
Another effect of the legal clinic I realized only later, is that by working with volunteer requests and addressing issues we hadn’t encountered before, we could see the problem’s scale. This led to my membership in a working group at the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine. Together with the team, we work on various changes to legal acts concerning humanitarian aid, charitable transport, and more.