On Good Friday, March 29th, Professor Robin Boyle taught a virtual class of students who are attending the Odessa I.I.Mechnikov National University, in Ukraine. Minutes before class, air raid sirens sounded in the city, yet bombs did not drop. The decision was quickly made to proceed with the class. Students assembled online and followed along with the lecture, asking and answering questions in English. Her lecture on the fundamentals of contract drafting proceeded for 90 minutes.

Since the Russian invasion, this was Professor Boyle’s fourth remote meeting with academics and students in Ukraine. Seeing students’ faces and interacting with those who live with threats of attack has provided her first-hand insights into the dire news emerging from the region. Afterward, the school’s rector sent her a certificate of appreciation and the class teacher sent a thank you note addressing the “hard and worrisome times” for their city and for their country and expressing the “hope that the horror of war will finish soon.”

In advance of the lecture, Professor Boyle had arranged with Edward Elgar, the publisher of her recent book, Teaching Contract Drafting, to send the school a complimentary copy, and it graciously accommodated her request.