Biography
Academic Director of the undergraduate program “Law” at KSE. Lawyer, PhD student at the Doctoral School of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA), where he is pursuing his PhD in Law.
He received his law degree from NaUKMA and a master’s degree in public administration from the same institution.
He studied law at the Jagiellonian University (Poland). He has experience as a lawyer in the private sector (at a law firm) and the public sector. For 5 years, Stepan worked in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as the chief lawyer of the Samopomich Union faction and headed the faction’s Center for Lawmaking.
In recent years, he has been heading the judicial reform advocacy department at the DEJURE Foundation, a direct action think tank that promotes the rule of law and justice sector reforms in Ukraine.
As a representative of the Foundation, he was involved in the consideration of the case in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on the reform of the High Council of Justice.
Learn to JUDGE THOSE WHO JUDGE — WHAT IS NEXT? With Oksana Syroyid and Stepan Berko
To change the judicial system of Ukraine, you need to have someone to choose from: "I am not certain that our law schools explain to students what the mission of a lawyer is when a person enters the profession. Being a lawyer does not simply imply verifying compliance with the law. A lawyer’s task is to defend human rights and preserve the constitutional order. And it is not just following some instructions or legal norms. We need a sense of this mission. And each of the representatives of the profession – be it a judge, a prosecutor, a lawyer – if they do not understand this big task of theirs, they do not contribute anything to the legal profession apart from showing up at work."