On July 11, 2009 my wife Julie and I joined many of the instructors, friends, benefactors and board members of The Leavitt Institute for the 2009 Summer Social, held at the home of David and Chelom Leavitt in Provo, Utah. Present were most of the judges and attorneys who will be teaching in Ukraine during the 2009-2010 academic year.
Having attended the summer social at the Leavitt's home in Nephi, Utah in earlier years, it was nice to see David and Chelom so nicely settled in their new place in Provo at the foot of the mountains. The Leavitts still presented their guests with a Juab County style hospitality, complete with barbeque dinner on a warm summer night, joyous conversation and a live band playing throughout the evening. There were even vegetables growing in the garden on the fringe of their huge back lawn where we ate dinner. David displayed for the first time memorabilia from the Orange Revolution of 2004, including this hand-lettered freedom banner which the Leavitt's retrieved and brought back to the United States.
Let me pause to comment on the unique talents and vision of David and Chelom Leavitt. Following his last term as the Juab County Attorney, David accepted a volunteer position with the American Bar Association strengthening rule of law institutions in Ukraine, and David and Chelom packed up their kids and moved for a year to Kyiv. Out of this experience the Leavitts
developed an almost mission-like zeal for assisting the blossoming of freedom and democratic institutions in Ukraine. One fruit of this was the creation of the Leavitt Institute dedicated to assisting in the implementation of a true jury system in Ukraine, as outlined in its constitution.
The Leavitts have developed a multi-phase long term plan for the Institute, which includes not only having American judges and legal professionals teach in major Ukrainian law schools, but also training young Ukrainian lawyers in the United States and then having them assist with the work of the Institute on the ground in Ukraine. It is an exciting and a visionary work--one which I am proud to assist with.
Over the past two years Chelom has taken a major role in directing the work of the Institute as David ran for the U.S. Congress and was diverted by other projects. In his remarks tonight, David noted that one of his Institute colleagues had quipped that David was like "The Hurricane" whereas Chelom was like "FEMA." In his self deprecating way, David is acknowledging that whereas he has a genius for long-range planning, Chelom is a genius at practical execution. They are a unique partnership, and it is a delight to know and be associated with this marvelous couple.
One of the announcements made this evening was that negotiations with the university in Lviv have been successful, and we will add this to the list of law schools for the academic year. There is still some ongoing discussion about the logistics of our travel and teaching schedules. The schedule calls for two American professionals to be on the ground in Ukraine at the same time, and the first draft of the schedule had each professional spending a week at institutions in eastern Ukraine as well as western Ukraine. One of the suggestions made tonight was that each teacher focus only upon select schools. This would simplify travel somewhat, but also provide the students more continuity.
During the evening both Chelom and David spoke, and we were delightfully entertained as Lori Nuffer and the concert mistress of The Orchestra on Temple Square played several piano and violin duets written by Ukrainian composers (and likely performed in the United States for the first time). Later in the evening David even sang "Mack the Knife" with the band to the delight of the crowd, which has become something of a Leavitt Institute tradition.
