The Art of Determination

An Interview with Yancho Yanchev

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

Yancho Yanchev is a qualified solicitor in England who graduated from The Hague University in 2013. He currently works as a data protection specialist at a company called Remote.com.

We have at least once heard the phrase “it is nearly impossible!” But what does “impossible" mean today? To pull a few all-nighters or skip some hangouts with friends?

This interview proves that to master the art of determination throughout your professional path, you must make sacrifices and constantly undertake new challenges. Because once you do, you have already accomplished your dream and are ready to pursue the next one.

What was your image/perception of Law before commencing your university education, and how did it change over the years of professional experience?

I thought that there would be a lot of reading to be done to be good at Law. I also had some assumptions that the work-life balance of practicing lawyers is not so great. It turned out I was wrong in terms of all these expectations both in Academia and private practice. Or maybe I just got used to reading a lot and working hard.

I think it’s better than I originally thought!

What has the university taught you?

Well, I've studied at many different universities, but The Hague University is the one I am most happy with because it required a lot of practice when I was there 10 years ago. We had to do an assignment every week, comply with deadlines and get good grades. That was probably the best thing about The Hague University. It trained me as a writer, legal researcher, and legal reviewer which are the skills you need in any type of legal practice you pursue afterwards. If I compare it with the two other UK universities where I did my master’s and postgraduate course to convert my degree into an English Law degree and then a legal practice course, I think quality for money in The Hague was the best in the world.

What were the most challenging moments during your education and how did you handle them?

I suppose for me the most challenging bit was when I had to convert my international law degree into a UK degree. The worst part was the so-called UK’s “legal practice course”. I had a part-time job in the evening while I was working as a trainee. It was very expensive, and I had to pay for it myself while my salary was very low. It was a year and a half of my life in which I was not the best person you could have come across. When you're under so much pressure, and you have no money, life is more of a challenge than a pleasure, unlike now. But how did I cope with it?! Just get on with the job, you just do it.

If I can give myself some advice; just, try to be humbler, speak less, don't complain to your friends or boy/girlfriend, and try to be a nice person.

Could you tell me about the transition from one university to another? Was there any significant difference regarding methods of teaching or requirements for the students?

I did a Master of Laws in European Data Protection Law, then an English Law course for one year, and the practical law course. The practical law course was similar to what we did in the Netherlands. It was about being able to apply the law, issue a court claim, and review your contract, all in line with the legislation and jurisprudence of one country. This makes it more practical, but other than that, the program was more academic and more about memorizing things as opposed to applying the law.

I won't judge and say whether that's good or bad, but at my job now, no one has asked me what the law is; everyone just asked me to apply it.

We also study English law in the IEL program in the Hague, what is the difference?

Yes, but for example, during the UK legal practical course, we studied company law, and we went back to the same book based on the Companies Act 2006 that I read during the IEL Program. However, while in The Hague we only focused on directors’ duties and compliance, in England, based on the same act and with a similar law textbook, we learned practical things such as how to incorporate a company, how to submit an annual account, and even what happens if a company cannot pay its debts. So, even though the focus was similar, just because I was in England, I was taught how to practically apply the law in accordance with UK legislation.

Hence, it is not the amount of information but rather the perspective in which the law is going to be applied?

Yes, it is the same subject matter and even the same legislation, but the university addressed a different aspect of it.

What advice would you give to those intending to do their master’s degree in the UK or elsewhere abroad?

First of all, you don't need to do a master’s, that's for sure. It turned out useful for me after three or four years because, for the last three years, I've been practicing the subject of my specialization, which is data protection. In that sense, obtaining a master’s degree was worth it, and the investment was fine. If you have an idea of an area of law you want to specialize in, you would probably be fine with a course or a certificate. On the other hand, you may want to get some experience before you do your master’s so that you can get a feel as to what the actual legal life looks like.

The way I chose my master’s degree was by selecting a topic that I wanted to learn more about, which, in my case, was data protection. Based on that, I researched universities that offer that program at a good, recognized level, and I chose to go to Queen Mary in London.

We, law students, tend to have an idealistic vision of the legal field due to tv series such as Suits. To what extent does the figure of Harvey Specter overlap with an average lawyer?

Harvey Specter is not an average lawyer, so his figure cannot overlap with an average lawyer. Of course, it does overlap with some people. I've worked for one person like this for a couple of years. For them, everything must happen NOW, and we must do our best. This type of spirit depends on who their clients are. In our case, it was an ultra-high-net-worth individual client.

In my view, the situation changes on a day-to-day basis. There are some days when you go into the firm, and it feels just like Suits. It is so dynamic. People are coming and going, there are so many things happening. You're sending emails, having calls, editing contracts, and telling people off. But there are also rather quiet days when nothing happens, and you just go there, do your little job, and leave.

However, when it is very intense, and a lot is going on, you know you are helping the client. it's kind of a good feeling that you get, and that's probably one of the best parts of the job.

What does one day as a legal practitioner look like?

That depends on where you work. What unites all the different positions is that it is busy, but you learn to manage people's expectations. Part of your day would be meetings, phone calls or zoom calls with colleagues and clients, or, in the worst case, with regulators and inspectors. There would be another part of the day when you are going to have a look at a contract and change some wording. If a day passes and I haven't seen a contract come my way, something wrong happened. Finally, there's also part of the day when you are asked to come up with a creative solution to a problem.

These businesses all have problems because they have so many ideas. These ideas, on the other hand, have friction with the law. The more people we have, the more ideas we have. For example, some issues could be the processing of personal information of about 3000 people without notifying them, screening them against anti-money laundering (AML) and financial crime lists without telling them, or mass emailing people about a news event.

People want to do things that are not optimal in terms of following the law therefore, you are requested to assist them in slightly altering their method so that they can comply.That is probably the most creative element of the job where you do not need to write or talk, but rather think and formulate a process.

So, we could say that you sometimes enter the role of “business savers”?

We rather call this “chasing fires”, because there's always a fire burning somewhere, and we try to extinguish all the fires. That's what you get to do sometimes. But the job is to prevent fires from occurring in the first place by building processes.

Have you encountered any curious cases from textbooks that materialized in practice or ones that you never imagined existed?

If you do dispute resolution, which you do during the training, you start to see that anything you may imagine may actually happen. When you're doing a contract between two companies, for example, you see that it is very extensive. You look at the clauses and say to yourself: “Well, actually there are so many hypothetical scenarios that are provisioned in this contract that may never happen. What's the chance?!” Then you see, when you move to the litigation department, the oddest things had happened.

If you ask me about a curiosa, I can tell you a story about how I got my first client: A big part of being a lawyer in private practice is about getting clients and businesses in. Back at my previous firm, there was this pasta place, Guido's kitchen, one of the best pasta places I've ever been to. I just had pasta, Guido was cooking, and we had a casual chat. Then he was like:" Yancho, what do you do?" “I am a lawyer." "Oh really! You know, I've got this friend Milko. He's looking for a lawyer. Milko has a hedge fund now." We got in touch and then Milko introduced me to the company he invested in, called agronizer.com, run by Chris. Chris needed his terms, conditions and provisions to draft the protocol for his platform. I did it at the law firm, and I got a small bonus for bringing in a new client. Then Chris did a platform for certain advertisements, and now I'm a client of his platform.

In a nutshell, that story is about how if you just go about your life and you're open to making connections, you can get the client out of your regular pasta place.

What was the most satisfying moment in your career so far?

Satisfaction must come every day when you are helping people and taking problems away from them and they're grateful to you.

I still think that one of my biggest successes was academic and not practical. It was an exam in English property law. I passed that exam. However, prior to that, I was in London doing another exam before which I had been in Plovdiv at the wedding of one of my best friends until 5:00 a.m. I think that was the most satisfying experience I've had in law because no one believed I was going to pass this exam.

When you are determined, everything is fine. Just don't say "no" when your friends are getting married, and you have an exam the day after.

One of the first aspects that we are taught in law school is the differences between the civil and the common law tradition. Do these differences reflect practically and if so, how?

The legal system works differently. The profession is separated between solicitors and barristers in England. If you do litigation and you are a solicitor, you are not going to argue in court, unless the claim is for less than 10,000 pounds. It is unlikely for a solicitor to argue a case in front of the court, although she/he will have prepared everything, including the arguments. It is the barrister who takes over at that point. It feels a bit odd to do all the work and go there with all the files and then just sit down and stay silent.

Is it difficult to get into the English bar?

Both are very difficult, solicitors and barristers. But I was lucky. If I had been a few months earlier or a few months later, I probably wouldn't have made it to this firm. It went bankrupt after I had done my training. No matter how intelligent, competent, or hardworking you are, it is extremely competitive to get either the training contract for solicitors or what is called pupillage for barristers. Moreover, many places pay a miserable sum of money for the training but, of course, there are a few exceptions.

At the beginning of our professional path, we could say that our pocket is full of dreams. Having already filled it with experience, do you still dream professionally? Or do dreams become ambitions at a certain point?

It depends on how realistic your original dreams are. The founder of the law program used to say that there are two types of lawyers: those who are part of the problem and others who are part of the solution. Sometimes you may choose your side, sometimes you may not.

You should understand your role as an advisor and that any legal job is to advise the decision-maker. Our job is to advise people. Whether they follow it or not, there's nothing to be disappointed about.

If someone wants advice to try to almost not follow the law to achieve something, that's also OK.

It's a job, we're not angels.

I wouldn't say that reality is too different from what I've dreamed about or hoped for. I haven't faced any major disappointments.

In the end, what is the law for you?

It is the text that binds society. Whatever we agree to do together, we put it in writing. It is where we document our common understanding, our common point, or common interests. If we follow it, we will be successful as a society. We cannot be free riders.

We will succeed if we all follow what we have agreed throughout our elected representatives, on a contract or in human rights statutes. That is what law is.