Meet the Team: Olga Grygorovska, Legal Officer

We interviewed Olga Grygorovska, who recently joined Media Defence as a Legal Officer. Here we ask about her experience in freedom of expression, and how she joined the organisation as a result.

What’s your role at Media Defence?

As a Legal Officer as well as a member of the legal team I provide legal assistance and representation for media and journalists. I also draft legal submissions before international tribunals, conduct trainings, and review grant requests from a legal viewpoint.

What are you most looking forward to in your role?

Working on interesting strategic litigation cases and getting more experience in the different regional legal mechanisms. 

What attracted you to Media Defence?

As a lawyer I’m mostly interested in litigating. I’ve been looking for an opportunity to do that while focusing on the area of law I am particularly interested in – freedom of expression and digital rights. Media Defence’s direction allows me to do both, and to take on important and complex cases. What’s more, Media Defence has a strong reputation in the international legal arena and excellent professionals to support it.

Why is Freedom of Expression important to you?

Legally speaking, the cases concerning freedom of expression are very interesting and challenging. They depend on myriad case-specific factors and different types of contexts. The outcome is often quite difficult to predict and that’s what is thrilling about it. As a lawyer, in each case, you have to do a lot of analytical thinking and balance the rights and interests of parties involved.

This legal field is extremely important and faces many unprecedented challenges against the backdrop of political turbulence over the recent years, technological development, and the COVID-19 pandemic phenomenon.

What cases have inspired you?

Although the context of the European Court of Human Rights has normally been closer to me, it goes beyond this. There is a long list of landmark cases across different international jurisdictions where Media Defence undeniably played an important role.  It is the consistent approach, the impeccable quality and relevance of legal arguments that always impressed me as a lawyer.

We’re very excited to welcome Olga Grygorovska to the team, and we’re grateful to her for taking the time for this interview.

If you’d like to read more articles about our team, you can find our first interview with Laura McCartan here.