Internship

AMI launched its own mentoring program for young lawyers for the first time. Three months of real work in the Kharkiv region have formed a specialist whom the organization has grown from the inside.

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1. As everything was

In August 2025, AMI announced for the first time the recruitment of paid internships for law students. The task was specific: to find a person willing to work with the victims of war and to enable them to learn in the field alongside the organization's experienced lawyers.

Darina Potabenko, a student of Yaroslav the Wise National Law University, was selected and joined the team. The first two weeks covered familiarization with the internal procedures of the organization and the first practical tasks. Then more than two months of full work: consultations in Kharkiv, processing of electronic appeals, mobile trips to Vilkhiv, Solonitsivska and Pisochynska communities under the guidance of lawyer Yulia Bekel.

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2. Impressive results

In three months, Darina provided twenty primary consultations, accompanied twelve cases of secondary legal assistance and took part in seven trips to the communities of Kharkiv region. Separately initiated the dissemination of information about AMI in the social networks of the organization. The team supported the idea, and so grew another access point for people who did not know where to turn.

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3. Challenges and Achievements

The legal problems of victims of hostilities do not exist separately from their lives. Each case contains an interweaving of documents, losses and human fatigue. The university does not do that.

Some of the departures took place under unstable communication and security restrictions. Routes adjusted in real time. Residents of some communities could only be reached in person, because stable Internet rarely appears there. It is in such conditions that the ability to find solutions where there are no convenient options is formed, to keep balance under pressure and not to stop.

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4. Impact on the community

Each consultation meant a person learning about their own rights. Internally displaced persons and residents of communities where lawyers usually do not reach received professional support directly on the spot. Data collected during the trips showed the demand for free legal assistance in the region and became an argument in conversations with local governments.

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5. What the project left

The internship is over. Darina stayed in AMI and now has the opportunity to develop in several directions at once: legal protection and good governance.

For AMI, the first internship program confirmed a simple thing: the organization is able to train specialists on its own, grow a team from within and lay down work standards that are passed from experienced lawyers to newcomers directly in the field.

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The program is implemented under the Impulse Project with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation and the Eastern Europe Foundation, funded by NORAD and SIDA.