Team
Bilyana Gyaurova-Wegertseder is one of the founders of the Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives (BILI) and the current Director of BILI. Bilyana Gyaurova-Wegertseder holds a M.A. in law from Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridsky" and has a substantial experience in the field of Rule of Law and policy reforms. In her career of a legal reform specialist Bilyana had drafted, managed and participated in the implementation of complex technical assistance projects, focusing on development of legal clinics system in Bulgaria, introducing ADR and especially mediation in the social and legal environment, policy and legislative reforms, thus interacting with international and local donors, governmental officials and other stakeholders. Bilyana’s professional interests are related to ADR, CLE, international development and strengthening the Rule of Law. She is also a trained mediator and a trainer in mediation, providing training in mediation skills both in Bulgaria and abroad. Bilyana is a member of the Managing Board of the National Association of Mediators in Bulgaria and is also listed as online mediator on the List of Mediators at the online mediation service of the Chamber of Arbitration of Milan and as an offline mediator on the List of Mediators at the International Business Mediation service of the Chamber of Arbitration of Milan. She has several publications in legal magazines about ADR and is a co-author of a textbook on clinical education. Bilyana is also a member of the Advisory Board of ABA CEELI-MENA.
Hristo Ivanov is a Program Manager with the Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives (BILI) where he works on developing policy responses to the challenges facing Bulgarian justice sector institutions. Before helping to establish BILI (2007) Hristo practiced as an independent attorney and consultant for projects in the Rule of Law reform field. From 1997 to 2002 he was a staff-attorney for the Bulgarian office of the American Bar Association's Central and East European Law Initiative (currently renamed to Rule of Law Initiative). Hristo has a law degree from Sofia University and has attended a number of specializations and courses. In 2010 he was a Hubert Humphrey Fellow with the American University's Washington College of Law and specialized National Security Law with the US Senate and Judicial Appointments with the Federal Judiciary Centre.
Dilyana Angelova Dilyana Angelova joined the team of BILI in the fall of 2009 as a legal researcher. She holds a Master’s degree in Law from the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. She has a particular interest in human rights and in 2009 she specialized European Human Rights law at the University of Aarhus, Denmark on a merit-based scholarship by the Danish Government. Upon graduation Dilyana Angelova continued her training in anti-discrimination legislation and human rights protection. Currently Ms Angelova is pursuing a Master degree in European studies, specializing in the field of European Project Management at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridsky”.
At BILI she is primarily responsible for researching and providing legal advice on various areas of Bulgarian, European and International law, as well as for conceptualizing and implementing legal reform projects. Since 2010, Dilyana is in charge of the coordination and implementation of a two-year project for Roma Protection, Prevention and Promotion.
Yoanna Mikova prior to her quest for a job in BILI, Yoanna already had a pinch of professional experience in legal researching and strong enthusiasm to create civil awareness for reforming the Bulgarian Justice sector and judicial policy making. Before that she had worked for the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human rights, which was invited to conduct a Limited Election observation mission in Bulgaria and was involved in internships for the “UN and global issues” department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the Bulgarian National Assembly, the latter ended with publications on “Strategies and concepts of Security services”, “Ethical code of MPs in EU member states”, “Invitro mothers and their rights”.
After finishing Bachelor degree in International relations in the Sofia University, she studied International Economic and Business Law in the forefront University of Groningen, and graduated with the prestigious distinction “cum laude”, for her excellent overall achievements. She attended courses in commercial arbitration, competition law, trade law, investment law and participated in the Vienna international commercial arbitration moot court. She subsisted volunteering in various youth organisations such as AEGEE, UN Youth and ELSA and participated in the Model United Nations and the Model European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Yavor Nikolov joined the BILI team in September 2011 as a researcher. He works mainly on the Transparent Judicial Appointments Initiative. Yavor is also editor of the blawg.bg blog and staff writer at judicialreports.bg. His previous professional experience includes journalistic activities for two national daily newspapers, editing role in News.bg and a year as a photojournalist at EmaxPress agency. Currently, he is a journalism student at the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridsky" in his last year of education.
Neda Grozeva joined BILI in August 2011. Currently she is a legal assistant with primary responsibility for the implementation of the Transparent Judicial Appointments Initiative. She holds a Master degree in Law from New Bulgarian University. Her previous legal experience includes: legal traineeship in "Ovcharov & Parushev" law firm and work as an assistant in a notary office. She has interests in the field of Alternative dispute resolution and development and elaboration of the Bulgarian legislative criminal proceedings.
Neda also contributes articles on social issues for media outlets as a freelance author.