After more than 40 years as a trial lawyer at Duane Morris in Philadelphia, it was time for me to give back to others what I received. Therefore, at the end of 2005, I volunteered my services to the Center for International Legal Studies, which sends senior lawyers to teach in law schools throughout Eastern Europe.

Out of several-hundred lawyers who applied for this program, I was one of 50 lawyers accepted to teach in law schools in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Serbia/Montenegro, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

I was a visiting professor at the law school at Donetsk National University in the Ukraine. Duane Morris has long had an active pro bono program, and this assignment was entirely a pro bono exercise on my part, for I paid all transportation and living expenses.

Over history, Ukraine has been brutalized in succession by the Mongols, Cossacks, the Russians, the Germans in World War II, and by the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Since the break-up of the Russian Republic in 1991, and more recently with the Orange Revolution in 2004, Ukraine has moved closer to a democratic form of government under President Viktor Yushchenko, but is it still beset by a number of problems.

Ukraine is generally a poor country, its economy primarily based on agriculture and coal mining, but its cities are rebuilding the ancient infrastructure. With no middle class, a few are very wealthy, and many are very poor. The average national wage is $105 per month, with one in three living below the poverty line. The poverty stricken individuals have only enough money to cover the bare essentials for life.

My wife, who accompanied me on the trip, and I rented a modest apartment in the center of Donetsk. The housing situation of families in Ukraine is crowded and the cost of the new high-rise apartments for them is beyond their economic reach. With all the coalmines and factories in eastern Ukraine in the area of Donetsk, the air and water quality is very poor.

Despite all this, the center of Donetsk has a world-famous ballet company, a symphony orchestra, opera, theater and attractive shops, and the same is true in Kiev. Donetsk has a five-star hotel, the Dombass Palace, with excellent restaurants.

The legal education system in Ukraine is somewhat different than in the United States. Students go to state-run universities, and at the same time enroll in the law faculty of the university, where they are taking both college courses part time and law school courses part time, in a time span of five years. In my particular school, Donetsk National University, which is run by the state, there were approximately 30,000 students, and the law and economics faculty has approximately 3,500 students, primarily female. Tuition is very low.

The law school allowed me to choose the subject of my two courses, and I opted for democracy and the rule of law, and mediation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.

In Ukraine, and other eastern European countries, there is a pervasive problem of corruption with many judges and politicians, which results in the destruction of the rule of law. To attack the problem, I wanted to start at the root of the issue. I believe that through young law students, and future leaders of Ukraine, lies the best opportunity for the country to realize its current and potential issues due to no independent judiciary, and find the best possible solution to resolve those problems.

Virtually every personal freedom in the Bill of Rights depends upon the rule of law and an independent judiciary. We need to develop in law students a strong sense of legal ethics and judicial ethics. One practical problem is that the present compensation system for judges in Ukraine is very low, with trial court judges earning approximately $200 per month. At that economic level they are vulnerable to the temptations of illegal gifts, and the compensation for judges needs to be significantly increased.

In my first class, with approximately 70 students who spoke and read English, I covered the topic of democracy and the rule of law. These students were used to the customary method of teaching law in Ukraine whereby the teacher primarily lectures the students for the entire class. There is very little question-and-answer interaction. I introduced the Socratic method of teaching, where I found a strong reception from the students on question and answer interaction. My course was based upon the American system, with reference to the constitution of Ukraine for comparative purposes.

I introduced rule of law through U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Texas v. Johnson, Sullivan v. New York Times, United States v. Nixon and Bush v. Gore, discussing the substantive constitutional content of the decisions, and the intelligence, integrity and independence of the Supreme Court Justices in their separate opinions. In Johnson, where the defendant publicly burned an American flag in the course of a political rally, the Supreme Court threw out the conviction under Texas law on the grounds that the flag burning constituted symbolic speech under the First Amendment, the students were amazed at the court's decision. I found, from the students, that Ukrainian courts would likely have a different decision in such circumstances.

Another course that I taught was on mediation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, where I explained to how rapidly these forms of dispute resolution were taking over what used to be traditional jury trials and nonjury trials in America. I reasoned that until the judicial system in Ukraine was straightened out, clients in Ukraine could resolve their disputes by these procedures rather than going to court. More importantly, working with international trading partners, Ukrainian companies could draft contracts with an arbitration clause so the foreign firm would agree to arbitration and not be subject to the Ukrainian judicial system.

After explaining to the students how mediation worked and the differences between mediation and arbitration, I asked for volunteer students to act as lawyers for the parties in two mock mediations. Eight students ended up participating — two representing each client in two mediations. With very little structure, they did a respectable job and gave a spirited performance in presenting their arguments, and answering my questions as the mediator.

Each day I had a number of students asking questions about the legal profession in the United States, how they could visit the country, whether there were job opportunities for them in American firms in Ukraine, and a number of other good questions on related classroom topics.

It may be too early to tell if my teaching kindled a spark in these young law students, but I can say that after teaching democracy in a law school in eastern Europe, it was a very satisfying feeling to have done so, leaving matters in their capable hands, minds and hearts.

Reeder R. Fox is an attorney practicing with Duane Morris, and practices in the area of litigation, with particular emphasis on business, construction, professional liability, antitrust matters, and mediation and dispute resolution. Fox is a 1959 graduate of Harvard Law School and a graduate of Yale University.

Reprinted with permission from The Legal Intelligencer, © ALM Media Properties LLC. All rights reserved.