COTSAKI Catherine

Lawyer Focus

Why did you choose to become a member of Eurojuris International?
In 1997, a very good friend of mine, who is a member of «EUROJURIS INTERNATIONAL» almost since its formation, proposed to me to come to the Congress, which was to be held in Berlin in October or November of the same year, to «strengthen» the presence of Greece in «EUROJURIS». Actually, another greek lawyer who had formed an association under the name «EUROJURIS HELLAS» had stopped to participate to the activities of «EUROJURIS». After that, Greece was represented at «EUROJURIS» by a belgian lawyer married to a greek lady lawyer, who speaks perfectly greek and who became later a very good friend of mine. He was regularly attending the Congresses of «EUROJURIS», but he had declared that he did not want to undertake alone the obligation to form a net of greek law offices. This is why my Italian friend and colleague thought that, if I could collaborate with the lawyer representing Greece up to then, we could possibly be successful in forming a net, all the more that our office collaborates since almost twenty (20) years with other law offices in ± fifteen (15) other cities in Greece. That is to say that our office had already at that time a net, which could become a member of «EUROJURIS INTERNATIONAL». Unfortunately, some of the law offices in question can communicate and work only in greek, which I wanted to declare from the very beginning so as the situation be clear and misunderstandings be avoided . «EUROJURIS» considered the fact that there are in our net law offices, which do not practice – in addition to greek language – in one other language at least, as an obstacle to the integration of our net to «EUROJURIS INTERNATIONAL». Thus they decided to make of our office a «correspondent office». This formula works very well. We are very satisfied and we do hope that, from its side, «EUROJURIS» is also satisfied by the way in which we are handling the cases and the clients referred to our law office. I wanted to become a member of the International Practice Group- which occurred as of the formation of the Group in question in 1998 – since I found very interesting its aim which was and is the exchange of information about the procedure to be followed and the rules governing litigation in other countries, by exchanging written reports regarding specific topics, which are prepared by the members of the Group regarding their own Legislation. This allows to make a comparison of the various Legislations and also to be in a position to communicate to clients wishing to instigate legal proceedings abroad about the legal frame set forth by the foreign Legislation(s). Another advantage is that when cases are entrusted with us by foreign lawyers or foreign clients we are in a position to point out to them - especially when they are lawyers – the differences between the legal dispositions governing litigation in their home country and those governing litigation in Greece. Given that our clientele is mainly composed of foreign companies as per what is exposed below in paragraph (3) all the above are of essence for our office.

What kind of clients do you work with?
The clients we work with are mainly foreign companies (especially french, belgian, english, and italian companies) having established in Greece a subsidiary or a branch office, but also companies who, although they have no establishment in Greece, have to conclude important contracts in Greece or to instigate legal proceedings in Greece regarding important disputes. The members of our law office are specialized in various sectors each one of them, with as a result that we are able to handle matters belonging to almost all the areas of Law. The undersigned is specialized in International Business Law, Foreign Investments Law, Corporate Law, Commercial Law in general, Contract Law and International Litigation. The other members are specialized each one of them in some of the above mentioned areas of Law, but also in Commercial Agency, Distribution and Franchise Law, Labour Law, Industrial Property Law, Arbitration Law, Maritime Law, Criminal Law etc..

What distinguishes you from other firms in your country?
What distinguishes our law firm from other law firms in Greece is that we are able to communicate and to handle cases – besides the greek language – in french, english, german, spanish and italian. Further, we are organized and work exactly in the same way as the law firms in Western Europe, due most probably to the fact that the undersigned has practiced abroad for eight (8) years, at the beginning of her career.

What do you expect from Eurojuris?
What we expect from «EUROJURIS», is to be in contact with lawyers established in other countries in order to exchange information about our respective Legislations, to be able to recommend law offices in other countries to our clients, who have matters or cases to be handled abroad, to receive files to be treated in Greece entrusted with us by other members of «EUROJURIS», to be recommended by «EUROJURIS» to persons looking for a law firm in Greece, but also – and this is very important for us – in order to be able to work on various topics dealt with by the International Litigation Practice Group and other specialist Groups of «EUROJURIS», by presenting written national reports on Greek Legislation regarding the topics in question.