Stephen Humphreys, Broken bridges: the destruction of Ukraine

Attorney Stephen Humphreys has worked with Legion D, Ukrainian military training and intelligence, while in that country. Top photo from AL.com; left portrait by Caolan Robertson, right portrait courtesy Jason Thrasher. Thanks to AL.com and Everett Catts, Law.com for some biographical content.

Please note: owing to a new opportunity arising, the speaker and topic for 4 February have changed since the first announcements. Dr. Nathan Gonzáles will instead speak on his originally scheduled date, 4 March.

Moderator: Maj. Gen. Walter Givhan, (Ret.), ALWAC President.

231 Montgomery St, Montgomery, AL.

Reception at 5:30 pm CT, briefing at 6:15 pm, and question time till 7:30 pm.

Webinar via Zoom: login and social time, from 5:45 pm CT. 

 From July 2022, he made nine trips to Ukraine.

After the Battle of Irpin (February 2022), a turning point in the Kyiv offensive during the Russian invasion, Stephen Humphreys decided to go to Ukraine, to offer assistance. Humphreys had previously done legal work investigating public corruption and election interference in Georgia that had ties to Russian intelligence activities. Since then, Humphreys, an attorney, has worked on war crimes investigations, volunteered in training Ukrainian armed forces, and taught law and history at the Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. 

He also established a joint program between Ukrainian and U.S. universities; volunteered at a territorial defense training center; and worked on a Russian disinformation study with Christopher Steele at Taras Shevehenko University. He also was involved in civil litigation, and advising the Ukrainian government on the legal issues of seizing Russian assets.

During this time, he was taking photographs documenting the people, cities, and landscape of Ukraine as they are now, war-torn yet bonded together and resilient amidst incredible destruction. Back in Alabama, he exhibited these photographs in several galleries and cities. 

Humphreys has practiced law for twenty-five years in Georgia and Alabama and been involved in local and regional media as a journalist, editor, and owner. He is also an art collector as well as a photographer. Humphreys’ collections of Vietnamese and Cuban art have been shown in exhibitions at Troy University, the Alabama Center for the Arts in Decatur, and Vulcan Materials Gallery at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham. He holds a law degree from the University of Georgia and a bachelor’s degree in literature from Princeton University.