I was born and raised in Bulgaria, and during my teenage years I spent some of my time with my parents, who are both lawyers, at their office and court. After witnessing the dynamic and exciting world of law I realised Law was the career I wanted to pursue.

Having completed my secondary education in Bulgaria, I was awarded an international scholarship to complete my A-Level education in the UK. After completing my A-Levels obtaining AAAB, I chose to study LLB Law with Management at Aston University, because I was also interested in business. Working at Deutsche Bank during my placement year allowed me to gain first-hand legal experience and commercial awareness in finance. I graduated in 2018 with 2:1 Honours.

After graduation, I worked as paralegal at Hogan Lovells in Birmingham. I was initially brought in as a temporary paralegal, but was then offered a full-time role. This role offered a tremendous variety of legal projects supporting the Finance, Corporate, Real Estate and Litigation practice groups. No two weeks were the same – I’d be reviewing financial contracts one week, and reviewing Russian documents for a discovery project the next. I left that role in September 2019 to look after my son, and was on the look-out for flexible work opportunities as a paralegal. I did a few short-term freelance jobs and then joined as a paralegal to support a US attorney in California with drafting and negotiating commercial contracts for two of his tech SaaS start-up clients.

The main difference that this role offers is the amount of autonomy, hence it was paramount to be proactive and learn quick in order to facilitate excellent customer services to him and his clients. What I further appreciated about this role is the commercial awareness needed in order to reasonably back-up negotiating positions and translate business concerns into effective legal provisions.

I'm also currently supporting an innovative London-based consultancy as a part-time Contracts Executive. I help with the contracts execution and negotiation process and have delivered faster ways of working through CMS software.

Generally, I find my time evenly split between looking after my son and looking after my clients! In my free time, I enjoy fitness, outdoor activities and Netflix!