In 2016, although being a young organisation, LIBRe took the bold decision to expand the team and provide one student interested in law and information and communication technologies with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the fields of our expertise. Therefore, among the awards within our LIBRe Essay Contest 2016, we included a paid internship at LIBRe Foundation.
This is how the team was joined by Hristiyan Dimov in mid-July this year.
Hristiyan is a law student at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” who we introduced you to in August when he shared his background and his motives to become an intern at LIBRe Foundation. His internship was completed in mid-October but we decided to keep him on board due to his outstanding performance, creativity, and energy. We are happy to announce that he is now a permanent LIBRe team member at the position of Legal Assistant.
We are to continue LIBRe Essay Contest initiative as well as the internship programme at LIBRe.
Here is Hristiyan’s overall feedback as a former LIBRe intern and his advice for the future candidates:
I found myself in the position of a LIBRe intern as a result of my participation in a student essay contest organised by the Foundation. At the end of the internship I could look back and evaluate the exceptionally rewarding and fulfilling experience LIBRe provided me with. In support of such a strong opinion, I am outlining the three most important aspects of my work in priority order and leaving everyone to make their own personal conclusions.
First of all, at LIBRe I had the opportunity to work on a greatly varied spectrum of thematic fields - from human rights to intellectual property, e-Government, data protection, etc. I believe this wide range of tasks to which I was assigned was the most valuable aspect of my internship, since I got acquainted with issues which are not taught in the legal academia but have strong presence in our everyday life and represent a constant food for thought to the experts in the field. In my opinion, analytical and practical thinking are the two most-needed skills by law students throughout their course, since this continues to be a poorly covered field within the Bulgarian education in legal studies.
On the other hand, encountering such a variety of thematic fields gave me a clearer view on the direction of my own professional development and specialisation in the future. For example, one of the most interesting tasks I had the pleasure to work on was an European project related to the development of a multiple speech analytic algorithm that will assist law enforcement agencies in determining the identity of criminals based on speech identification through lawful interception and monitoring of communications (widely known as “surveillance”). I was aware of the opportunity I was given as a third-year law student - to work on such innovative and complex project. The faith and huge trust which the team of LIBRe had in me were probably what motivated me to reach my full potential and manage the responsible task I was assigned with. While legally supporting the project, I identified a number of norms in the applicable Bulgarian law which needed further refinement. I strongly believe that my interest and research on this topic will continue in future. The issue of surveillance in the developed democracies is getting more and more traction and I think a slightly more sophisticated debate on the topic in Bulgaria would be of huge use.
Secondly, the internship at LIBRe provides a more specific experience related mainly to communication, team work, and building an adequate work culture. One of the specifics of the LIBRe team is its variety of expertise and the fact that it is formed of young people specialising in closely-related but at the same time different academic fields. This creates an atmosphere of tolerance, mutual respect, constant exchange of ideas, and cooperation, making every single day at the office fulfilling and free from any unnecessary formalities. Principles such as being proactive, assertive and respectful to personal opinions are highly appreciated which is a rare phenomenon in most of the legal internships. The intern is treated in a very responsible manner – as a specialist making first steps in their career, either in this or in another working environment.
Last but not least, I believe that the internship at a non-profit organisation, such as LIBRe, has its benefits compared to the work in a big law firm or public institution. The non-profit sector carries specific values related mainly to higher social responsibility and stronger interrelation between the professional and the society she works in. The internship at LIBRe gave me an opportunity to understand and appreciate these values and some of them I embedded as a permanent part of my own work ethics. In my opinion, professional ethics is often underestimated but has a great influence on the effective work process and the long-term job satisfaction. Moral principles are undoubtedly of even higher importance for the legal profession. Therefore, I believe the work at LIBRe is exceptionally suitable for law students, considering the early stage of their professional growth.
In conclusion, I would recommend the internship at LIBRe to every motivated young person who would like to ‘test’ what their academic knowledge and at the same time get involved in a less known area of the legal profession –the legal research. The candidate must be prepared for large volumes of creative writing and thinking out of the box. Stronger interests in the fields of innovation, new technologies, internet governance, and digital society are a guarantee that the internship would be more of a pleasure than an obligation.
Hristiyan Dimov