BEKOP 2018 • BEKOP

BELGRADE LAW CONFERENCE 2018

The idea of the BEKOP program, which we have been implementing for three years now, is to acquaint the participants, young legal professionals and law students, with the professions in which they will look for their employment tomorrow. In this regard, it is necessary for young people to gain an idea of what the activity of each legal profession that they will potentially choose looks like and to get acquainted with all the prerequisites for practicing a certain profession.

Academic education related to law is primarily theoretical and imbued with a matter that is for the most part either exclusively historical and methodological in nature or marginal in terms of occurrence in practice. This leads to the unpreparedness of young trainees when it comes to the practical effects of institutes and regulations important for certain legally regulated areas. Aware of that, the aspiration of the BEKOP 2018 program is to connect theoretical knowledge with its practical part in parallel in order to make it as functional as possible. Data from the Republic Statistical Office from 2012 show that the number of unemployed lawyers in Serbia is 5056, while every year 1,500 new freshmen enroll only at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade. This disparity arises because students and young legal professionals rarely encounter practice during their studies and are insufficiently acquainted with all the opportunities offered to them with a law degree, but also with individual professions that they can choose.

In order to help solve this problem, we want to raise the awareness of our participants about the wide range of opportunities provided by law and to best prepare them for the requirements of each individual profession and to show them alternative professions that are becoming increasingly important in our society.

Guided by the “Strategy for the Development of SMEs and Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness for the period from 2015. to 2020. ” adopted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the BEKOP 2018 project will mostly focus on dimension 1 – measure 3: Development of non-formal education system for improving knowledge and skills, the first principle of this strategy: Creating an environment in which entrepreneurs can develop and entrepreneurship can is awarded as on the pillar of this principle: Development and promotion of entrepreneurial spirit and encouragement of entrepreneurship of women, youth and social entrepreneurship.

Through non-formal education, with the help of our partners, we are working on developing a platform, through which, according to our research, at least 1/3 of law graduates will pass in the next four years. We are committed to the careers of our participants, because of which BEKOP exists and progresses, and in that sense all our activities must contribute to the professional development of the participants.

We have an annual plan and program that was created in consultation with our partners, and established according to the needs of students and young lawyers. We are also proud of the fact that for the two years of BEKOP, we are actively maintaining cooperation with partners, whose number is increasing from year to year.

BEKOP 2016 – PANEL ON THE JUDICIAL ACADEMY – NENAD VUJIĆ