Stephan van der Merwe joined the Law Clinic, University of Stellenbosch as practising attorney in 2001, after serving his articles of clerkship in private practice.  Earlier he graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with a B Comm LLB and during 2002 he obtained an Advanced Certificate in Children’s Rights.  In 2005 he obtained an LLM (cum laude) and during 2007 he qualified as notary public and attorney with right of appearance in the High Court.  In 2017 he obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Higher Education Teaching and Learning (cum laude). In 2022 Stephan obtained his doctorate in law (LLD). The title of his dissertation is “Developing a Procedural Framework for Advanced Debtor Protection: The Case of Emolument Attachment Orders”, in which he makes motivated recommendations aimed at advancing debtor protection.

Stephan is deeply involved with community service in his capacity as the senior supervising attorney at the Law Clinic.  During the early 2000’s his work was instrumental in exposing the interest fraud which eventually led to the demise of Saambou Bank.  He also has extensive experience representing debtors in rescission of judgment and emoluments attachment order cases and his practice and research in this regard proved valuable in framing the applicant’s case in the Constitutional Court matter of University of Stellenbosch Legal Aid Clinic & others v Minister of Justice and Correctional Services & Others (2016) ZACC 32. Stephan has been the Clinic’s principal attorney on various other impact litigation matters related to his field of practice, including the 2019 in duplum case (University of Stellenbosch Law Clinic & 11 Others v The National Credit Regulator & 48 Others) and the University of Stellenbosch Law Clinic & 8 Others v Lifestyle Direct Group International (Pty) Ltd & 18 Others class action filed during 2019. He also advises and presents training on debt related matters, and specifically emoluments attachment orders, to human resource industries on a national level.

Stephan is a former secretary and treasurer of the South African University Law Clinic Association (SAULCA) and is currently a member of the International Association of Legal Ethics and a Fellow of the National Institute for Teaching Ethics & Professionalism (NIFTEP), based at Georgia State University, USA. He has published several articles in accredited journals and his academic field of interest is Clinical Legal Education. In 2019 he was awarded the Stellenbosch University Institutional Teaching Excellence Award in the category ‘Scholarly Teacher’. The award is based on experience and leadership in the scholarship of teaching and learning. In 2024 he was also shortlisted for the Stellenbosch University Institutional Research Excellence Award. He lectures Practical Legal Training, Legal Ethics, and Foundational Oral Advocacy at the Faculty of Law, University of Stellenbosch.