Ianika Tzankova specialises in class action and mass claim litigation, having received her PhD on access to justice in mass disputes from Tilburg University in 2007. Born and raised in Bulgaria, Ianika studied law in the Netherlands (1992-1997). After three years of legal practice, acting mainly for insurers and corporate defendants in tort litigation, Ianika returned to Tilburg University as an assistant professor in the field of civil procedure and civil dispute resolution. Ianika has authored or co-authored many studies and articles in that field, one of which was nominated for the 2005/2006 Academy Award of the NRC Handelsblad. She was a member of a commission that conducted a fundamental review of the Dutch law of civil procedure for the Ministry of Justice.

In May 2007 Ianika joined NautaDutilh as a senior associate on the firm's class action team. She is one of a two-lawyer team representing two major pension funds in the Shell class settlement and is part of the team advising two large insurance companies in connection with a threatened mass claim relating to alleged undisclosed costs of unit-linked life insurance policies. Ianika is also representing Dexia Bank in test case proceedings concerning the opt-outs from the collective settlement relating to securities leasing products that was approved by the court in 2007.

As a class action and mass claim litigation expert, Ianika is regularly consulted by other lawyers in connection with Supreme Court or Court of Appeal proceedings in which issues in this field arise, and by numerous national and European advisory bodies, governmental and otherwise, including the Civil Justice Council (UK), the ECOSOC (EU), the Consumers' Association (NL), the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, BusinessEurope (EU), the European Commission and various Dutch ministries. Ianika regularly lectures and publishes in national and international forums. Besides her legal practice, she is also a professor of comparative mass claim litigation at Tilburg University.

Ianika is described in the Legal500 (2009) as ‘young, but close to brilliant’.