A TEAM FROM VFU "CHERNORIZETS HRABER" WILL REPRESENT VARNA IN THE FIRST NATIONAL STUDENT COMPETITION IN ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL SCIENCES

11 January 2024

Photo: BNR

A team from Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" will take part in the first national student competition in administrative and legal sciences, which will be held on January 13, 2024 at the Supreme Administrative Court of Bulgaria. Six teams from key law schools in the country have applied for participation in the competition - VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar", Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, HBU, South-West University "Heofit Rilski", Paisii Hilendarski University of Provdiv and "Angel Kanchev" University of Ruse.

The team of Varna Free University consists of fifth-year students who have shown excellent knowledge and talent within their studies so far, as well as in solving study cases. Its captain is Slavena Georgieva, who will manage her fellow students Maria Bozhinova, Kremena Kostadinova, Gulfidan Eminova and Tsvetelina Stoyanova. Slavena Georgieva is part of the university team that performed last year in the 10th Competition for solving civil and commercial law cases, organized by the Center for Legal Sciences at BFU. Kremena Kostadinova was in the top six of the National competition for scientific essays in honor of Christian Takov in 2023. The topic of the essay with which she was ranked and invited to present at the final conference at Sofia University is "The Legal Institute of the Time Charter as a Contract for Lease of a Particular Movable Property". Maria Bozhinova studies both Law, in which she was accepted with excellent success as a scholarship holder under the programme "I Will Study and Succeed in Bulgaria", and Construction Management. She believes that it is time for young, energetic and competent people to create opportunities and work for the development of Varna, so that the new generation can be successfully implemented in our city. "Our team is highly motivated to perform well and defend the name of the university!" said Maria, who will visit the European Parliament in Brussels after the competition.

The team from Varna Free University is preparing for the national competition under the management of Prof. Dr. Olga Borisova - Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law at VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar", who has an enviable biography in the field of legal regulation of nuclear energy. She is a member of the International Association of Nuclear Law in Brussels, a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors in Bulgaria, as well as the International Institute of Internal Auditors in the USA. Dr. Marina Mihaylova - a judge with over 20 years of experience in the Supreme Administrative Court and lecturer at Varna Free University in the course Administrative Law and Process and Assist. Prof. Gergana Stoyanova who has almost 20 years of legal experience and has worked for 15 years as a judge in the Administrative Court - Varna, also work actively with the fifth-year students. Assist. Prof. Gergana Stoyanova is the holder of a silver personal badge of honor, the distinction being awarded to her by the Judicial College of the Supreme Judicial Council.
The first national competition in administrative and legal sciences was organized by the Supreme Administrative Court, together with New Bulgarian University and Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski. The purpose of the competition is to give future lawyers the opportunity to demonstrate and apply in practice the acquired knowledge of administrative law and process, to gain better information about the work of the judicial system and to strengthen the confidence in the Bulgarian justice system.

The arbitrators of the competition will be six supreme judges and three judges from the Administrative Court Sofia - city and the Administrative Court - Sofia region. The teams have the opportunity to prepare their theses based on a case study version previously developed by the Supreme Administrative Court. On the day of the competition, the positions that the young people will have to defend during the competition - to the administrative body or to the addressee of the administrative act will be chosen by lot. During the mock trial, the three-judge panel will ask questions about the facts of the case, the arguments of the parties, the application or knowledge of certain legal institutions. After a secret discussion, the judges will evaluate the teams and determine a winner according to the criteria: persuasiveness of the legal thesis, argumentation, legal culture, public speaking skills and the ability of young people to work in a team. There will be a special prize for the best speaker, most original thesis and the prize of
the chairperson of the Jury.

We wish success and a worthy performance to the team from Varna Free University!