PROF. IVAN TODOROV: THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF AN ARBITRATION CASE IS REACHING AN ARBITRATION AGREEMENT

Ivan Todorov is the Founder and Chair of the Partners’ Meeting of Georgiev, Todorov & Co. Law Firm, one of Bulgaria’s leading law firms. He is a Professor of Administrative Law and Administrative Procedure and has been involved in some of the largest transactions and commercial disputes in Bulgaria and internationally. He served two terms as a member of the Board of Directors of Eversheds, one of Europe’s largest law firms.

He has served as a national consultant to a UN working group on institutional and structural reforms of the judiciary in Bulgaria. He was also a member and rapporteur of the committee responsible for drafting the Administrative Procedure Code, as well as a national expert under a UN programme for administrative modernization in Central and Eastern Europe.

Prof. Todorov has undertaken specialist studies at the University of South Carolina and in Tokyo. He is an Honorary Citizen of Columbia, South Carolina.

He is the author of four monographs, one of which was also published by an American publishing house. Together with Prof. Kino Lazarov, he co-authored a leading textbook on Administrative Procedure.

Prof. Ivan Todorov has served as an arbitrator at the BIA Arbitration Court since 2022. We asked him to share his views and experience in arbitration.

What attracted you to arbitration?

I have been involved in some of the largest international arbitration cases in Bulgaria, and perhaps with a little luck, we won all of them. I was involved in two of the largest international arbitration cases concerning Bulgaria, in which awards of EUR 650 million and EUR 380 million were respectively granted.

In many cases, it is necessary to address, as an incidental matter, the validity of administrative acts. This provides an additional opportunity to apply my expertise in administrative law and procedure.

What are the most common challenges in arbitration proceedings?

The most challenging part of an arbitration case is reaching an arbitration agreement. Once they have reviewed the case materials, arbitrators can provide the parties with guidance on the possibility of reaching such an agreement.

If the parties are able to preserve their business relationship while also avoiding unnecessary costs, this can be of great benefit both to them and to their businesses. In some cases, it may be more appropriate to pursue settlement after expert reports have been presented. Achieving this requires considerable skill and effort; this stage of the proceedings should not be rushed or treated as a mere formality.

Secondly, arbitration proceedings have recently been taking more than a year to conclude. This runs counter to one of the fundamental objectives of arbitration – to provide a swift resolution of disputes.

In the past, at my initiative and with the support of Prof. Zhivko Stalev and Prof. Ognyan Gerdzhikov, we initiated amendments to the International Commercial Arbitration Act so that challenges to arbitral awards would be heard at a single level of jurisdiction by the Supreme Court of Cassation, rather than by three levels of court. This made arbitration proceedings considerably more attractive.

Another major achievement was the removal of the public policy ground in domestic arbitration cases. Arbitration is a dispute-resolution authority, and arbitrators are no less competent than state courts to adjudicate disputes within their jurisdiction.

When does the resolution of a dispute bring satisfaction to the parties and to you as an arbitrator?

When the parties reach an agreement, or when the award is rendered promptly, demonstrates a high level of legal expertise and, of course, complies with the law in every respect.

What advice would you give to companies facing unresolved commercial disputes?

They should first try to reach a settlement. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is to turn to arbitration and work with competent arbitrators who, at an appropriate stage of the proceedings, can provide guidance and facilitate the parties’ efforts to reach an agreement.