People

Vassya Prokopieva

LL.M. European Law, College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium; Master of Laws, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”; Senior Lawyer; Managing Partner

Legal, regulatory and business consulting for the authorization and ongoing operations as E-money institution by the FCA, UK of a leading mobile POS and online payments FinTech platform (www.mypos.eu);

Legal and business support in the licensing as a Credit institution of a modern digital bank, by the MFSA, Malta (www.sata.direct);

Legal, regulatory and business consultancy support in the licensing as E-money Institution, by the BNB and ongoing e-money and card activities of iCard AD, Principal Member of MasterCard, VISA, JCB, AMEX (www.icard.com);

Drafting of Terms and conditions under PSD 1 and PSD 2.

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Ivan Troyanov

Master of Laws, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski and Ghent University; Lawyer; Partner

Legal, regulatory and business consulting on SEPA Adherence Rules and joining as a Direct Participant of SEPA by an EU-licensed credit institution and as Indirect participants of SEPA of several e-money institutions;

Legal consultation for the integration of local E-money institutions in the AMEX payment method in EU and Switzerland, the Bulgarian domestic payment systems for card payments and into Real-time Interbank Gross-settlement System and other national payment schemes, such as Bancontact, Belgium or iDEAL, Holland;

Outsourcing agreements for activities related to Risk, AML and IT services to low-risk cost-effective EU jurisdictions, Service level agreements, Agents Agreements, Distributors Agreements, Promoter Agreement for intermediation for contracting payment services;

Providing legal advice and expertise for regulated financial institutions in relation to their periodic checks, inquiries and communication performed with/by EU Regulators (central banks, financial commissions, financial intelligence units);

Drafting of Terms and conditions under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 on payment services (“PSD 2”) and Directive 2009/110/EC on the taking up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions (“E-money Directive”);

Applications for authorizations as electronic money institution. Updating documentation and authorization under PSD 2;

Legal support for processing of customers’ complaints of credit and financial institutions, including measures to prevent fraud, reduce risks and increase compliance;

Corporate services for companies’ formation and registration and group restructurings.

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We follow extremely strict professional principles and values in our work such as equality, understanding the essence of business and full protection of the legal interests.

Svetozar Tsonevski

LL.M. Banking Law and Finance, University of Frankfurt, Germany; Master of Law, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”; lawyer; Managing Partner

Credit Institutions — General Terms and Conditions, Intercompany Agreements, Credit Agreements, Security Agreements;

Financial Regulations — capital structure and capital adequacy, internal organizational structure, internal procedures, compliance and licensing procedures;

Investment Services — Consultation on MIFID and MIFID II/MIFIR, MAD and MAD II and respective national legislation (Germany, UK, Bulgaria) where these are transposed; Investment firm licensing procedures and internal structure consulting;

Real Estate — Real estate purchase agreements, lease agreements, administrative procedures.

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Atanas Rusenov

Master of Laws, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”; Junior Lawyer; Partner

Providing legal advice to clients regarding the CRS/AEOI and FATCA regulations;

Providing legal advice to clients regarding the Rules and Regulations of the Card Associations (Visa, MasterCard, JCB, etc.);

Representing clients in front of tax authorities, prudential supervision authorities, other similar regulators;

Conducting legal research by client's request concerning relevant foreign legislation pertaining to payment services, taxation, exchange of information for tax purposes, corporate and commercial law;

Providing legal advice to clients regarding the payment services and payment systems regulation framework;

Drafting GTCs, Notices, Legal Agreements, Framework Agreements, Corporate acts and similar documents for clients.

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Vera Yankulova

Master of Laws, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”; Junior Lawyer; Partner

Client representation in Litigation and Court Debt Collection in numerous debt collection cases on behalf of financial institutions.

Out of court Settlement Agreements on behalf of European credit institution providing cross-border services and local debtors.

Update of the General Terms and Conditions for Consumer Credit cards of a financial institution.

Commercial Agreement for white label payment cards with a Partner of a leading E-money Institution.

Advising E-money and payment institution on retail ATM laws in various countries in Europe.

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Iskra Bratovanova

Master of Law, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”; An Intellectual Property Representative; Lawyer; Associate Member

TM registration;

TM portfolio management;

TM claims and appeals;

License Agreements;

Support in international cases involving IP rights and TM.

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In memory of: Assoc. Prof. Christian Takov (1965-2017)

Doctor of Law, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”; Associate Professor of Civil and Commercial Law, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”; our dear teacher, colleague and friend

Legal logic and how to apply it in our daily work as lawyers and consultants;

Ethics and how to defend it every day in the world of complex legal issues and business interests, and to fight for the integrity of relations;

Moral and how to find and apply the power of the human intellect, spirit and imagination where the law is not sufficiently developed or is obsolete, or completely inadequate to the development of the society;

Creativity and freedom — how to assert our freedom, the independence of our own opinion and legal thought, how to write and read the legal texts, and how to fight for justice.

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Expertise

We provide legal advice under EU Law in the following business fields

Banking and New Payment Services Providers

We provide representation at incorporation and licensing of financial institutions, including preparation of license application, drafting of GTC for financial products and services such as e-money, credit or debit cards, gift cards, assistance in update and amendment of GTC and drafting of client notifications, assistance with legal issues within the day-to-day customer support, representation before regulators within supervisory procedures and supervision inquiries, drafting on internal procedures and rules for financial institutions, legal assistance within procedures for integration with different payment schemes such as SWIFT, EPC / EBA STEP 2, legal assistance in procedures for stepping in correspondence relations with banks and conclusion of agency representation agreements, regulatory compliance and representation in procedures for registration of agents and agreements with agents and sub-contractors. We are experienced in drafting SLA agreements with service providers of financial institutions and outsourcing, including taxation of outsourcing agreements.

Corporate Law and Corporate Management

We also deal with merger & acquisitions transactions, due diligence, negotiations, incorporation of branches of foreign financial institution subject to local regulation and groups of companies on EU level. We help our clients build an effective and sustainable corporate structure within their financial groups and also manage all internal corporate governance legal issues, from the onset of the company, raise of capital through corporate changes and running the day-to-day corporate matters like preparation of BoD meetings, shareholders meetings and actively consulting in the field of good corporate practices in managing international groups of companies.

Contracts and Negotiations

For our clients E-money institutions and payment services providers we draft and negotiate Agency agreements for issuing and acquiring of payments with cards bearing the logo of the card schemes, Subcontractor and Service Level Agreements for technical services with sub-contractors, and as well as tax implications of cross-border outsourcing agreements. Our expertise includes also drafting of specific agreements for businesses like customer support, call centers, IT support, data centers and data storage, etc.

European Law/ EU Law

We specialize in the field of European banking and payment services and the products of the new payment services providers — e-money and payment institutions. This includes passportization of license including the cross-border provision of services without permanent establishment or via branch or through representation, performance of different registration procedures, representation of clients before national regulators within the EEA, including central banks and supervisory commissions. We have experience with representing clients in litigation procedures at the European Commission with claims against national authorities for not complying with the European legislation. We are also actively supporting clients in their interaction with national regulators and national legislative bodies in expressing their opinion and recommendations on future regulations and legislative acts in the fields of e-money, payment services, anti-money laundering, which are based on our experience and knowledge in the field of European law and regulatory authorities.

Regulators and Financial Institutions

We represent our clients before financial regulators among different European jurisdictions, including central banks, supervisory commissions, national financial intelligence units, as well as at administrative bodies like consumer protection and antitrust authorities. We also provide legal representation, legal opinions and lead negotiations with Card Schemes like Mastercard, VISA, JCB, AMEX etc. Our expertise is backed by the specific knowledge and practical experience we have gained throughout the years dedicated to servicing e-money and payments businesses, AML regulations and cards schemes bylaws, together with the close cooperation we have established in time with carefully selected local law firms in different jurisdictions. All this allows us to defend our client’s rights and interests in an adequate manner before multiple regulators to which our clients are usually subordinated and to also make constructive recommendations to regulators in adopting changes in legislation in this area using our knowledge of European law and our experience with European regulators.

Organisation and Debt collection

We organize and effectively run the debt collection processes of financial institutions and other businesses. We are proud of more than 1 400 litigation cases where we represented our clients as plaintiffs with impressive rate of success. Our team, together with the team of SIS Technology AD (www.sistechnology.com) has developed the first web-based specialized software for debt collection in Bulgaria — Argus Legis. It was particularly designed for the needs of the creditors and lawyers in court debt collection and provides optimal organization for debt collection in court with practical features for accountability and transparency of the process for our clients, which makes our job on thousands of cases quick, effective and traceable for the creditor.

Real Estate Projects

Our experts were part of international teams developing several real estate projects like Business Park Sofia and Business Park Varna, different investment projects, purchase of land and SPV companies, financing and structuring of the entire investment process within the group of companies, general contractor agreement and agreements with sub-cotractors, standard lease and management agreements as well as exit transactions like investment sale of entire project, due diligence, negotiations, sale-purchase agreements for company shares, and specialized appendixes to such agreements.

Civil Litigation and Settlement Agreements

We are experienced in civil litigation in commercial matters and we are active in leading negotiations for securing client’s best interest through Court settlements or settlement agreements before reaching the courtroom. For cross-border cases we cooperate with carefully selected foreign law firms and coordinate their work for our clients in order to receive the best possible protection of their legal rights and interests.

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Career

“The team with the best players wins.”
Jack Welch

Open positions (last updated 08.10.2021)

JOIN OUR TEAM:
HIRING NOW! WE ARE LOOKING FOR JUNIOR LAYWER, LEGAL ASSISTANTS AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT!
APPLY NOW AND JOIN OUR TEAM FROM SOFIA, VARNA, PLOVDIV, VELIKO TURNOVO
Responsibilities:
- Drafting contracts, terms and conditions and various legal documents
- Legal consulting of corporate and institutional clients
- Representation of institutional clients before regulators
- Representation of institutional clients in civil and commercial court proceedings in Bulgaria

Our requirements for Junior Lawyers and Legal Assistants:
- Recent graduate or Student in 4th or 5th year from a Law Faculty of a reputable university / University degree in law/
- Strong academic knowledge of Civil, Corporate, Commercial Law and Administrative Law
- Fluent written and spoken English /including legal English/
- Good computer skills
- Knowledge of second language is a plus
- Ability to work in a team – we are a young and energetic team
- Strong time management, prioritization and organizational skills
- Responsible, loyal, communicative, constructive
- Driver’s license and ability to travel to Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv or other cities in Bulgaria

We offer
- Attractive remuneration
- Highly interesting legal work
- Excellent office (Sofia/Varna) with possibility for remote working
- Positive environment and a small and wonderful team
- Learning and practice in innovative legal areas
- Balance between work and free time

Send your CV (in English), Motivation Letter (in English) and an excerpt of your student grades showing your completed exams to: office@eu-bg.com.
All information will be treated with utmost confidentiality. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Contact Us

Sofia Office

5 Saborna street, 1000, Sofia, Bulgaria
Tel.: + 359 2 8065950
Fax: + 359 2 8065949
E-mail: office@eu-bg.com

Vassya Prokopieva
Managing Partner

Law Firm “Prokopieva, Troyanov, Russenov & Partners Law Firm” EU-BG Legal Consultants

Svetozar Tsonevski
Managing Partner

Law Firm “Prokopieva, Troyanov, Russenov & Partners Law Firm” EU-BG Legal Consultants