The Judge | Ekaterina Nikolova
It is Tuesday afternoon and judge Ekaterina Nikolova walks into courtroom number one of the Regional Court of Blagoevgrad self-assuredly, holding her head up, with a concentrated expression on her face. She takes a seat on the judge’s bench, which in Bulgaria is actually a big chair, and greets the litigants and the lawyer present in the room. Judge Nikolova is dressed in a black judge gown and has tied a little white formal scarf around her neck. She proceeds to check the full names of the applicant and the defendant and initiates the trial.
She acts very respectfully the whole time, speaks in a calm manner and asks all the relevant questions. Throughout the proceeding, keyboard chatting is to be heard — that is because a secretary, sitting on the left side of the judge, keeps a record of all things said in the courtroom.
Apart from the courtroom, she is usually to be found in her office, which she has decorated very nicely with postcards and souvenirs from all the places she has travelled to, flowers and pictures of her and her friends. Her desk is neatly organized and she always keeps some candy to give to people who visit her at her office.
Ekaterina Nikolova has been a judge in the Regional Court of Blagoevgrad for more than 15 years. In the beginning of her career she dealt with civil trials, but for more than 12 years now she has been covering criminal cases. For her, law is more than just a professional field. “My sense of justice has always been greatly developed, even before becoming a judge. It’s just part of my mentality, part of who I am as a person,” she says. “The fact that I have the ability to bring fairness and balance between people is what I love so much about my job.”
There are parts of her profession that Judge Nikolova does not enjoy that much, however. “It could be very emotionally draining sometimes. There’s no way not to take to heart some situations or cases. It is human fates we are talking about,” she says. When asked if she has ever lost sleep because of a verdict she has given, she is quick to decline, and starts speaking passionately. “When your conscience is clear, there is nothing to lose sleep for. On the contrary, I am sleeping very well, because I am content and self-assured with the verdicts I have enacted,” she says, smiling.
Despite the fact that her profession is a tough one, this has not prevented her from taking pleasure in being a judge. “In the end, the judge is there to give a ruling, to solve a dispute,” she says. Moreover, even though it is considered to be a very serious profession, there are still comical situations inside the court hall, which she recalls with a smile on her face. “I have had people who literally take on a role when they walk inside. Be it because they’ve watched a lot of movies, or because this is their first time going inside a courtroom, but I have had some pretty funny happenings during trials. I’ve even been compared to a priest because of my gown!” judge Nikolova explains, laughing.
Judge Ekaterina Nikolova thinks that her profession is multi-layered and points out that it has enriched her worldly and professional knowledge greatly. “You learn something from every single case, every situation in court is edifying,” she says.
###
Rumyana Penzova is a sophomore, studying Journalism, Psychology and Spanish at AUBG. Her family is very fond of law and she is interested to hear from people with professions in that field.
