Graduated in law from Tbilisi State University, Georgia in 2002. She has completed the LLM course in International Human Rights Law at the University of Essex in the UK. In 2006 Sophio was admitted as a qualified lawyer to the Georgian Bar Association. From 2002 to 2006 Sophio served as a member of the board and worked as a lawyer for the Georgian human rights NGO Article 42 of the Constitution. From 2006 to 2009 Sophio worked for the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), a well-known NGO in Georgia promoting human rights.  She coordinated and was a strategic litigation lawyer on the “Strengthening Human Rights Capacity in Georgia” project carried out in partnership with the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC).  Sophio also supervised the “Strategic Litigation for the Victims of Russian-Georgian Armed Conflict of August 2008” project and was in charge of drafting conflict-related applications to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Sophio is a current board member of GYLA and a member of the European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL).  Sophio continues to represent clients in numerous cases pending before the ECtHR. Her work at INTERIGHTS focuses on strategic litigation in the South Caucasus. Languages: Georgian, Russian, English. Email Sophio at sjaparidze@interights.org.