Mario Krešić graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Zagreb in 2000 and from the Faculty of Law in 2005. In 2013, he earned the academic degree of Doctor of Legal Sciences at the Faculty of European Law, University of Nova Gorica (Slovenia), on the topic of legal theory (“Mandatory justice as a necessary element of law”). He speaks English, French and Slovenian.

Since January 2007, he has been employed at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb (Department of General Theory of Law and State) first as an assistant, then as a senior assistant and assistant professor. He was elected to the position of senior scientific associate on 22 April 2021. Before working at the Faculty of Law, he worked as an associate in the Croatian Parliament (February 2001 – April 2002), expert associate for public relations in the Public Relations Office of the Government of the Republic of Croatia (April 2002 – November 2002), expert adviser in the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia (November 2002 – February 2004), secretary of the Cabinet of the Minister of Justice in the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia (February 2004 – March 2006) and head of the Department for International Cooperation in the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia (March 2006 . – July 2006).

He teaches the following courses. (i) Integrated undergraduate and graduate university study of law: Legal Theory, Legal Theory – seminar, Legal Theory – exercises, Legal Philosophy, Human rights in legal theory, Human Rights and Atrocity Crimes Prevention. (ii) Undergraduate university study of social work: Introduction to Legal Theory. (iii) Undergraduate professional study of public administration: Introduction to Legal Theory. According to the adopted program of the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, he is intended to teach the postgraduate doctoral study courses: Legal Science Methodology and Legal Doctrine.

He is the President of the Committee for Alumni of the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb (2019 – present), of which he was previously a member (2017 – 2019), and the Committee for Reaccreditation of the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb (2020 – present).

He is a member of academic associations: Croatian Academy of Legal Sciences (APZH), Croatian section of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR): Croatian Association for Legal and Social Philosophy and Theory of Law and State (HUPSFTPD; member and secretary) and Networks for the Theory of Law of Central and South-Eastern Europe (CEENJ, member of the Advisory Board). He is a member of the US alumni community in Croatia.

He served as a special adviser to the minister of justice in the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia (January 2009 – June 2010) and deputy ombudsman (May 2014 – December 2015) where he was responsible for, among other things, the National preventive mechanism for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. He was a member of the working group for Chapter 23 (Judiciary and fundamental rights) of the negotiations for the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union (2005), chief technical adviser for the judiciary of the UN Development Program (2007 – 2013), adviser to the UN Office in Brussels for the analysis of EU and UNDP programs and projects in the judicial sector (2011), and legal advisor in the project of the Office of the US Department of Justice for the support and training of state attorneys in overseas countries (2013).

He graduated from the Diplomatic Academy (2002 – 2003), completed internship at the Commercial Court in Zagreb (2005 – 2006), passed the state professional exam (2003) and has certificates in project management (2005 and 2006). He trained in the United States as part of the International Leadership program (2005) and completed the Nordic Reconciliation Program in Norway (2006).

He is a collaborator in the application for an international project in the field of legal theory for the COST project. He was a member of the project team in the research projects: Functions of Law; Knowledge and value acceptance of European and international law in the Republic of Croatia; New Croatian legal system; Research on support for victims and witnesses of criminal offenses in the Republic of Croatia (2007). He led the following development projects in the area of the rule of law: involving young people in providing support to victims and witnesses (2011-2013), organization of the international conference of European ministries of justice ‘Judicial reforms and empowerment of victims of criminal offences’ (2013), support to the prison system (2007 and 2012), development of a support system for victims and witnesses (2007-2010; the project resulted in the establishment of seven victim and witness support offices at county courts), strengthening the capacity of the Ombudsman’s Office (2008-2010), strengthening the capacity of the State Election Commission (2007-2008), strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Justice for strategic planning (2009) and transitional justice (2006-2007).

He received scientific training abroad in the field of legal theory. He was a visiting scholar in research programs in the theory of law at the Jagiellonian University, Department of Legal Theory, Faculty of Law and Administration in Krakow, Poland (June – July 2019) and at the University of Genoa, Department of Law, Tarello Institute for Legal Philosophy in Genoa , Italy (March – July 2018).

 

He has presented at 35 international scientific and professional conferences and held two lectures at the invitation of the Jagiellonian University and the University of Genoa. He has organized nine scientific and professional conferences and international schools. He is the author of twenty articles and co-author of two editions of legal theory textbooks.