Founded in 1977, Timagenis Law Firm (the “Firm”) has gradually grown to become one of the most prominent and market leading business law firms in Greece and now consists of a sizeable team of lawyers whose practice experience ranges from two to over forty years.
The Firm is involved in demanding high profile transactions and resolution of disputes, both domestic and international, on a personalised basis. The limited volume of repetitive and standardised work, has offered the Firm’s attorneys a vast range of skills, experience and adaptability. The Firm has contacts and correspondents throughout Greece and worldwide and very often cooperates with major foreign international law firms.
The Firm offers comprehensive legal services in all areas of law in the context of a pragmatic and business oriented approach. However, the Firm’s particular strength lies in maritime, banking and finance, general corporate and commercial matters, as well as complex domestic and international litigations and arbitrations, and it has been ranked in many international directories as one of the top experts in these areas. Visit our page Testimonials for comments and ratings by international legal guides. Over the past two decades, the Firm has developed expertise also in other areas, including mergers and acquisitions, capital market offerings, bankruptcy, restructuring, over-the-counter derivative contracts, real estate, foreign investments, privatisations, data protection, competition, environmental, corporate tax and administrative law.
The Firm has dealt with some of the most innovative – at the time – matters in Greek (and in some cases international) legal practice including: listing of the first Greek interests shipping company on NASDAQ; listing of the first coastal shipping company on the Athens Stock Exchange; various high profile M&A deals with unique characteristics including the largest by dollar value acquisition ever consummated in the dry bulk shipping industry; interpretation for the first time worldwide of the term “ship” under the International Conventions on Civil Liability for Pollution and for the International Oil Pollution Fund; liberalisation of internal sea transport; use of cruise ships as hotels for the Athens Olympic Games 2004; attachment of taxes after the amendment of the Greek Constitution in 2001; international bids for mobile telephony; privatisation and listing of the formerly Greek state controlled organisation of telecommunications (OTE); incorporation of the first Investment Company into Ocean-going Shipping (EEPN).
The lawyers of the Firm speak several languages and most of them in addition to their Greek law degrees have postgraduate degrees from leading European and US universities as well as working experience abroad. Several of our lawyers, in addition to the local bar association (Piraeus or Athens), are admitted in other countries and in particular they are qualified as solicitors in England and Wales and/or are admitted to the New York Bar.
Founded in 1977
50 people in their team
Litigation and dispute resolution work is central to the Firm’s practice. Our team of lawyers have extensive experience and broad expertise in high-value domestic and cross-border international disputes which has allowed our Firm throughout the years to navigate complex disputes with ease.
Due to the international nature of the shipping industry which is our core industry practice area our Firm enjoys an impressive reputation for its expertise and legal skill both in domestic as well as international litigation and in both ad hoc and institutional arbitration cases on both maritime and non-maritime/general commercial matters. The Firm is involved predominantly in:
(a) complex domestic litigations before Greek Courts with multi-jurisdictional or cross-border elements.
(b) in ICC, LCIA, LMAA (maritime and commercial) and even recently JAMS as well as PAMA and the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping arbitrations.
(c) in complex cross-border court litigations around the world through a network of international law firms developed over a long standing presence over five decades of the Firm’s international activity (appointing local lawyers and providing strategic handling of the cases).
The Firm’s senior partner, Gregory Timagenis, has also been appointed regularly as an arbitrator in ICC and Hellenic Chamber of Shipping arbitrations.
ADR
In the context of ADR, our Firm uses and has used (where appropriate) alternative dispute resolution and settlement procedures. This has proved in a number of cases highly beneficial for the Firm’s clients saving clients’ management time and costs and removing the uncertainties that any litigation inherently has.
General Commercial and Banking Litigation
In the general commercial and banking litigation sectors (non-shipping), our Firm has been involved in a high profile litigation cases, defending a major Greek Bank in Swiss Francs Loans cases. This includes recent successes before the plenary session of the Greek Supreme Court and before the European Court of Human Rights, solving issues affecting thousands of similar cases.
In other landmark cases our Firm successfully acted for a major Greek bank in one of the largest class actions in Greek litigation history filed against it by approximately four thousand claimants (borrowers and personal guarantors).
Another high profile case involved the representation of a foreign government in a $318 million lawsuit before the Greek Courts against a major Greek shipping company for the latter’s role in the export of crude oil.
Shipping Litigation
Specifically, in the area of Shipping Litigation, the Firm is consistently involved in high profile and innovative litigations involving complex issues of liability in relation to shipping debts, jurisdictional issues, family and corporate shareholder disputes, asset tracing and recovery as well as admiralty cases, including major pollution cases and casualties. A number of those cases are currently shaping the Greek shipping litigation case law.
In the context of emergency procedures and injunctive relief, our Firm can act on short notice on any form of injunctive relief and predominantly in respect of ship arrest and casualty emergency response.
The Firm has dealt with some of the most innovative matters in Greek (and in some cases international) legal practice. In the context of shipping litigation, the Firm has been involved before the Piraeus Courts (maritime claims division) and before foreign courts in debt recovery claims for banks and other creditors at both domestic and cross-border scale as well as high value cross-border shipping shareholders’ disputes. More specifically, its experience on the field of shipping finance and shipping litigation includes proceedings related to the enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards, enforcement of mortgages on ships or real estate, arrest of vessels, bank account attachments and in general enforcement of the entire security package of a ship finance loan agreement, jurisdictional disputes, performing asset searches, corporate veil piercing proceedings and imposing interim charges such as provisional orders, prenotations or similar charges on assets etc. including defending ship-owners, ship managers and operators against similar proceedings.
Enforcement of Arbitration Awards
We are consistently instructed to assist with enforcement of international commercial arbitration awards of any jurisdiction within the New York Convention. By way of illustration, indicative highlights include:
Litigation Cases Supervision – Legal Opinions to be used in Foreign Court Proceedings
Our Firm is continuously instructed to get involved in existing-ongoing cases handled by other firms to either “supervise” the existing law firm and/or to actively handle and/or take over an ongoing case (particularly in higher courts –Court of Appeal and Supreme Court).
Our Firm has been recognized for its excellence in dispute resolution and arbitration by peers, clients and various legal publications. We are proud of our reputation for providing high-quality legal services to our clients with integrity and professionalism.
The Firm is involved in all types of commercial work, including commercial negotiations and contracts and all types of commercial litigation, bankruptcy and reorganisation, trademarks, agency, etc.
Further in addition to the incorporation of maritime companies (Greek or foreign) the Firm deals with the incorporation of all other types of Greek Companies (Societe Anonyme, Companies of Limited Liability, Private Company, etc.) and with advice in connection with their corporate work (amendments, increase of capital, meetings of stockholders/directors, relations with authorities, keeping of their records etc.). It also has extensive experience in advising and organising the structure of groups of companies.
The Firm organized the first coastal ferry company to be listed with the Athens Stock Exchange, incorporated the first company for investment in ocean shipping a subsidiary of the listed daily newspaper “Kathimerini” and advised both on the structure of the Group and all related issues.
The Firm further deals with the establishment of branch offices or subsidiaries of foreign companies in Greece, including banks, and provides full range of supporting services (permits of stay and work for foreign employees, leasing of offices, labour issues) and all relevant advice. It advises also Greek companies for investment outside Greece using a world-wide network of correspondents.
The Firm deals with the sale and purchase of real estate which is often combined with the creation of a corporate structure for the ownership, the import/export of capital, tax issues etc. The Firm also engages in ownership investigation as well as mortgages and prenotations of real estate as security for debts. The Firm has been also involved in forest issues relating to real estate.
The Firm deals with a limited number of such cases on a confidential basis for major clients especially where business and assets in more than one jurisdictions are involved.
The services include establishment of family foundations, trusts etc.
As most cases are confidential in nature no particulars may be given. However reference may be made to the advice and legal support given by the Firm to the trustees of the Vergotis estate, one of the legendary names in shipping in the past century.
The Firm deals with a limited number of such cases on a confidential basis for major clients especially where business and assets in more than one jurisdictions are involved.
The services include establishment of family foundations, trusts etc.
As most cases are confidential in nature no particulars may be given. However reference may be made to the advice and legal support given by the Firm to the trustees of the Vergotis estate, one of the legendary names in shipping in the past century.
Our Firm regularly advises Greek and international corporations with branch offices in Greece with emphasis on shipping companies operating in Greece and internationally in all aspects of employment law particularly in view of the sweeping changes in the relevant legislation in Greece over the past years (as part of the austerity measures imposed in Greece). Greek employment law is currently a constantly developing area of law and it is essential for any employer (particular corporate employers) to be keep up to date with the developments.
Particularly in the shipping sector, the in-depth knowledge of the specific provisions applicable and inner workings and practice of shipping companies allows our Firm to provide both strategic and practical advice on almost every employment law aspect that may arise particularly in shipping companies operating in Greece.
Our Firm has advised on employment structures, flexible employment schemes, employee equity incentive plans, strategic advice in relation to internal restructuring to take advantage of the new provisions and keeping dismissals as the last resort, advising where necessary on collective redundancies (particularly in respect of a banking client), advising and negotiating the dismissal and/or retirement procedures of higher executives and successfully avoiding court proceedings, on employment settlements (in all stages i.e. from the decision of an employer to dismiss an executive to the actual dismissal and settlement) and providing general advice on the full spectrum of the new employment provisions and on matters of data protection and employment relationships.
Given that one of the core strengths of the Firm is litigation, we have represented and defended employers on various occasions in employment disputes both in respect of out-of-court settlements as well as before all levels of the civil courts and in hearings before public employment authorities (in particular the Hellenic Labour Inspectorate). Our Firm’s particular strength is representing shipping companies in disputes with managing executives (including claims out of incentive plans, shares, redundancy payments etc.) where the amount of the respective claims is unusually high.
