UCU Inaugurates Law Faculty

The faculty, founded on the basis of the UCU Law School, will become in Ukraine a model faculty of values-oriented legal education on the western example.

Inauguration of the Law Faculty

Archbishop of the Philadelphia Archeparchy of the UGCC and President of Ukrainian Catholic University Metropolitan Borys Gudziak blessed the start of the faculty’s work. He recalled that Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who was the driving force in the creation of a Ukrainian university and who is the founder of the Lviv Theological Academy (of which UCU is the legal heir), had his first academic degree in law.

“Ukraine has a great demand and desire for justice. This depends on judges who will protect the law, and so we need a new generation of lawyers. They are being formed at the UCU Law Faculty,” stated Metropolitan Gudziak.

UCU Rector Taras Dobko noted that he was glad to announce the inauguration of the Law Faculty, the creation of which he strongly supported. He thanked all who made this possible: our defenders on the frontlines, lawyers, professors, and students.

The inauguration of the Law Faculty. From left to right: Myroslav Marynovych, Larisa Galadza, Taras Dobko

“The opening of the Law Faculty is not simply an academic or administrative step. This is a reaction to the challenges of society during the times of independence. The Revolution of Dignity demonstrated that it is necessary to change the culture of social action. Also, our faculty declares that law is not an arbitrary human invention which comes from nowhere and lacks any foundation. A good lawyer is called to build a good society. Lawyers should defend justice and take care of the social order. The faculty should create a community of independent lawyers and strengthen the culture of service.  Only then will the amount of specialists who will risk speaking about difficult matters increase,” emphasized the rector of UCU during the faculty’s inauguration.

Taras Dobko added that it is expected that the faculty will become a platform for the discussion of a new social framework. This also carries out the will of the university’s founders, Metropolitan Andrey and Patriarch Josyf Slipyj.

“Our task as a university is to help embed the feeling of justice. A legal education is for the defense of principles, and it is difficult to do this on an individual basis. Only by uniting can we defend law and the good,” emphasized Taras Dobko.

The faculty has a bachelor’s and a master’s program in law, preparing a new generation of lawyers according to western standards, with an accent on ethics, serving society, and respect for human rights. This year, 65 students were admitted to the bachelor’s program in law.

Svitlana Khyliuk, Dean of the Law Faculty, emphasized that the founding of the faculty is a logical step in the development of legal studies at UCU: “We draw upon the identity of a Catholic university for the values which the Law Faculty preaches. A key task of the faculty is to form lawyers with a new level of quality, in which there is a foundation of values, an understanding of the global context, and involvement in what is happening in the government. Our task is to become a platform where the country’s vision will be developed, its legal component. We are prepared to make difficult decisions and conduct discussions which will be steps toward change.”

The dean emphasized that law is a profession of service; lawyers’ mission is to serve. There is also a great focus in the educational process on creating the common good, where service is a value.

According to the Forbes Ukraine rating, in 2024 UCU’s law program was number one in Ukraine for the level of entrants. The team has more than 20 professors, the majority of whom are practicing lawyers, and also 30 guest-lecturers from the USA, Germany, Great Britain, and other countries.

Throughout their studies, more than 30% of bachelor’s students and almost 50% of master’s students have the opportunity to study and intern at universities of Europe and the USA. A legal clinic also operates here, where students have an annual internship and provide pro bono legal aid to soldiers, veterans, and members of their families, fulfilling the mission of service. Yearly, UCU law students achieve high awards in national and international competitions.

During the inauguration, there was a discussion about the role of the new generation in rebuilding Ukraine.

The moderator was Tetiana Havrysh, a lawyer, professor, and member of the Advisory Council of the Law Faculty.

“On the one hand, we have an ongoing demand for people with a legal education. On the other, there are loopholes and lack of trust in judges and lawyers. I think that the Law Faculty here is a step forward, because it wants to solve these problems and approach their resolution from the right perspective,” stated Oleksandr Sushko, a political scientist and civic activist, acting director of the International Renaissance Foundation.

“Ukraine has for 30 years passed a long road of positive changes. But we have a problem with marathons, the final kilometers. As long as the courts are not autonomous, dignity will not be defended. This is like Koschei’s needle: Until we break it, we will not get rid of the Soviet legacy. So we need a critical mass of independent lawyers. We need autonomous courts; without this, there is no security. Then we will organically enter the European system with economic welfare and a strong army. This is possible only with professional lawyers, grounded in values,” added Yaroslav Hrytsak, historian and UCU professor.

“There is a thought in society that with a change of people, things will become wonderful for us. This regards courts, the legal community, education, the government. That’s why I appreciate the creation of strong, new institutions, like the Law Faculty. This regards new values and building new approaches,” emphasized Mykola Stetsenko, President of the Lawyers’ Association of Ukraine.

“UCU’s new Law Faculty will change the demand and the understanding of values. There may not be many graduates, but they will be of a high quality. They will demonstrate that it’s possible to operate differently, to change the world. And then there will be a demand for people like this,” added Andriy Butenko, head of the National Agency for Providing Quality Higher Education.

“The rule of law is question number one for soldiers, not so much when you’re in a foxhole, but when you return to civilian life. The first demand is justice. Soldiers want to be sure that, risking everything, they have a right to benefits and that their family will receive everything necessary. For them and for society, this is the rule of law. And this does not now exist. Life will never be so calm for us, but work has begun here, at the Law Faculty, with the hope that it will lead to the rule of law being felt,” said Illia Kostin, a soldier who, before the full-scale invasion, was a partner in the lawyers’ group Legal Alliance.

The faculty grew out of the UCU Law School, which was established in 2017 at the Social Sciences Faculty, and began with a master’s program in human rights, which in 2018 led the national ratings of master’s programs for the level of entrants. Eventually a bachelor’s program was launched.

Metropolitan Gudziak recalled Illia Pidhaynyi, a graduate of the master’s program of the UCU Law School in 2020. He is an example of the mission of a graduate of the Law Faculty. Illia did not take the easy way of work as a lawyer in the background; he went to defend Ukraine and wanted to be at the front. When on leave, he returned here to UCU to prepare students for international competitions. On 8 August, the hero would have turned 28. On 16 July 2025, he perished in battle.

His mother, Olena Pidhayna, recalled that more than 300 people came to Illia’s funeral. They were truly sad: “This led us to understand that this was not only a loss for our family but for all with whom he studied and interacted, for his fellow soldiers.”

“My son always had his own principles. But it was at UCU that he crystallized his view of life. At the start of the war, he went to the enlistment office, because he considered this honorable and important. He gave example not only to his fellow soldiers but to us. He always volunteered. For him, it was important to be at the border that separated peaceful life from the horrors of war. I am grateful that you found the strength to share our grief. You have given us a ray of hope. Thank you for remembering our son,” sad Olena Pidhayna.

Ukrainian Catholic University has created a scholarship endowment of $ 100,000. Illia’s last request was to give the scholarship fund part of the compensation due his family according to current legislation for the death of a soldier at the front.

Addendum

The motivator for the development of legal studies at Ukrainian Catholic University was the Revolution of Dignity of 2013-2014. The university then created the Center for the Rule of Law, which conducted events and projects and created a number of certificate programs.

In 2016, a master’s program in human rights was created at UCU. It was the first program in Ukraine focused on the study of law through the prism of human rights.

The UCU Law School was established in 2017 at the Social Sciences Faculty.

In November 2017, the Law School’s legal clinic started operating. Students there have the opportunity to practice legal skills and are involved in work on real matters. Dozens of partners became involved with the school; they intellectually and financially support the development of legal projects.

In 2018, active work began on the creation of a bachelor’s program with world standards in higher legal education. In September 2020, there were 50 first-year students in the new bachelor’s program in law, whose average standard test score was 191.6/200. 

In 2022, the Law School became one of the founders of the Consortium of Catholic Law Schools. For the first time in Ukraine, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies began to operate, creating at the Law School a Ukrainian Law and Liberty Circle. The Law School is a member of the American Society of International Law. 

In 2024, the UCU Law School held first place among law schools in the rating of Forbes Ukraine for the average grade on standardized tests for its entrants, 174.8/200. That same year, an updated master’s program in law was launched.

On 8 February 2025, the UCU Senate approved a decision to transform the Law School and open a Law Faculty at Ukrainian Catholic University.